Still Doll
by SmilingArtist
Summary: Mikan was taken away with her mother at the age of five by the AAO. The organization has turned her from a cherry girl to a cold and emotionless weapon. But what will happen when she has to go undercover as a student at Gakuen Alice? -Full summary inside-
1. Prologue: Still Doll

**Author's Note:**  
This story was inspired by the song _Still Doll_ from _Vampire Knight_. Hope you like it.

**Disclaimer:**  
I do not own Gakuen Alice nor do I own the song Still Doll

**-X-**

**STILL DOLL**

**-X-**

**Summary:** Mikan was taken away with her mother at the age of five by the AAO. The organization has turned her from a cherry girl to a cold and emotionless weapon. But what will happen when she has to go undercover as a student at Gakuen Alice? Will she ever find happiness within these students or will she remain emotionless forever?

**Pairing:** NatsuMikan

**Genre:** Angst / Romance

**Song:** 'Still Doll' by Wakeshima Kanon

**Speech:**

'Talking'

_Thoughts_

**-X-**

**Prologue  
**_-Still Doll-_

**-X-**

_**Hi Miss Alice  
What dream  
Can you watch  
And enchants you  
In your glassy eyes?**_

_Scared…I'm scared…_

Large olive-brown orbs stared at the tall person smirking down at her as he licked his lips hungrily. Tears slid down her porcelain face but she remained transfixed towards the black haired man. Her breath hitched in her throat as she struggled to make a sound. Her mouth opened slightly but no words came out. She felt as if there was something stuck in her throat, preventing her to talk and breathe.

_**Still my heart  
Is teared apart  
And is flowing out**_

The man bent down to look at her with his seemingly kind sapphire coloured eyes. _Fake, it's fake… _The girl told herself. The aura emitted from this man was anything but normal. It made her feel as if it was sucking the life right out of her body.

'Are you alright there, little girl?' the man asked with a smirk. The five year old girl backed against the wall, wanting to get as far away from the man as possible.

'Don't worry, I _won't_ hurt you,' he said in his best soothing tone. The girl shivered; anyone could have told that he was a fraud. Her eyes then shifted towards the transparent glass that showed a woman standing there outside the room, looking at her with her emotionless hazel coloured eyes.

_**Memories  
That are sticked  
Into the patched aperture**_

_M-mommy…mommy! _She screamed in her mind seeing as how her voice wouldn't come out. The man grabbed a hold of her tiny throat and she chocked for air. _H-help!_

The girl thrashed and thrashed to get of the black haired man's grasp but it was no use; he was just too strong for her. Her eyes start to close in pain from the lack of air but then she felt as if her body was hit with fire. Brown orbs snapped open to see the man towering on top of her with a metal whip in his hand. The man brought the whip down again and again to make contact with the small girl's fragile skin.

_**Hi Miss Alice  
Who are you  
Throwing your love to  
And lamenting to  
Through your fruity mouth?**_

She screamed and screamed, but it was no use. All she heard was the sound of metal hitting flesh and the man's cruel laughter. She opened her olive-brown eyes only to see the woman walking away. It may have been the trick of the light but she thought that she had seen a glint of pity and sorrow within her mother's hazel eyes.

_M-mommy… _Her eyes clenched shut as the whip had made contact with her skin for the millionth time. _D-don't leave…please…h-help…_

_**The heat of my tongue  
That ties words  
Now completely**_

The man frowned and grabbed a fistful of her hair, hauling her up from the cold hard floor. 'Listen here, you brat,' he growled. 'Until the day comes when you can finally get rid of these weak emotions, I'll continue to whip you until your whole body is soaked in your blood. You got that?' He shook her harshly.

More tears streamed down her face as he continued his torture. The pain was tremendous. She could feel the blood on her head running down her face and drip silently onto the hard concreted floor.

_**Cooled down  
And I can't sing  
Admiring songs**_

She opened her mouth slightly and strained for her voice to come out. 'P-pl-please s-stop, M-mister… P-please…' she finally managed to say.

The man halted his movements and snorted down at the weak girl. 'How pathetic,' he sneered, kicking her roughly in the stomach. 'I can't believe that someone as pathetic as you could possibly have _that _Alice.' He turned and walked out the door as the girl on the floor lifted her head slightly to look at the retreating back.

'By the way, kid,' his voice caught her attention. 'The name's Kurai. Remember it 'cause I'll be back tomorrow.'

The last thing she heard was the sound of the door slamming before she drifted into darkness.

_**Still, you do not answer...**_

**-X-**

**Author's Note:**  
Thanks for reading! I've already got the next chapter typed up. So all you have to do is give me five reviews. Flames will not be accepted.

**-X-**

_-Setsuna_


	2. Chapter 1: Let The Games Begin

**Author's Note:**  
Thanks a lot for the reviews. Here's the next chapter. Sorry if it's short.

**-X-**

**Chapter One  
**_-Let The Games Begin-_

**-X-**

'Do you understand? Your mission is to infiltrate Gakuen Alice as a new student and find out about the academy's secrets,' a black haired man said. In front of him stood a fourteen year old girl with waist length auburn hair tied in a high ponytail. Her olive-brown eyes stared at the man in front of her looking seemingly bored.

'Yes, Kurai-sama,' she replied in a firm tone.

'Do not get yourself caught, or else,' he hissed.

'Understood,' the teenager said emotionlessly.

'You leave in fifteen minutes.'

The female nodded and walked out of the dark room. The man let out a slight smirk once he couldn't hear the sound of the girl's footsteps anymore.

'What do you think?' he asked. From the shadows a woman with shoulder-length auburn hair wearing a white mask that covered her eyes appeared and stood before Kurai.

'I must say, your daughter is quite impressive, Yuka.'

The woman reached up and pulled down her mask to reveal beautiful hazel eyes that held the same expression as her daughter.

'Are you sure about this, Kurai-san?' she asked. Kurai closed his sapphire eyes and leaned back against his chair.

'I'm positive. Sakura Mikan is the perfect spy,' he stated.

Yuka remained silent and didn't move a muscle as she contemplated on his words. Although she may not look it, Yuka was deeply worried about her only daughter. After all, she had promised herself that she would look after her until she grew up and became the perfect adult, but now Kurai just had to send her back to the very place from which Yuka had escaped from twelve years ago. The auburn haired woman didn't like this plan at all.

**-X-**

'Sakura-sama, would you like me to help you pack?' a servant asked the auburn haired female. Mikan shook her head and waved her hand to dismiss her.

'I'll be fine,' she said softly; her face held no traces of any emotions.

The servant bowed and left Mikan's bedroom. Mikan stood in the middle of her room staring at the suitcase lying on her bed. Back in Kurai's office, she was sure that she had sensed the presence of someone familiar. But who was it, is her question. Shoving the thought out of her head, Mikan continued packing.

'Sakura-sama, the limo is here to escort you to the academy,' the servant said from behind the wooden oak door.

Mikan grabbed the suitcase and walked out the door to see her servant standing there waiting for her patiently.

'Let me help you with that,' the servant said, grabbing the suitcase out of her mistress's hands.

'Thank you, Yukiko.'

Together they walked out of the secret base of the AAO and out into the starry night. A man wearing a black suit and sunglasses opened the door for Mikan to get in while Yukiko placed the case in the back of the trunk.

'Have a safe trip, Sakura-sama,' Yukiko said.

Mikan nodded as the limo got started up. The journey towards Tokyo was completely silent. If she was another person she would have fallen asleep ages ago from boredom, but Mikan didn't care. She likes the silence anyways. Mikan stared out of the dark window and watched as the cars drove past. Her gaze then drifted towards the night sky filled with bright stars. The suddenly Mikan spotted a shooting star that went sailing through the sky. She smiled slightly as she spotted kids closing their eyes and pray silently. She would do the same as well, but too bad that she wouldn't because Mikan never did believe that wishes would ever come true.

'We have arrived, miss,' the limo driver stated as he parked the limo in front of tall black gates. Mikan got out of the limo slowly as her eyes scanned the surrounding areas and landed on a man with blonde hair.

'You must be Sakura Mikan, am I correct?' the man asked smiling.

Mikan just simply nodded.

The man gestured towards the two guards to get her suitcase from the trunk and bring it to her dorm room. 'Alright then, follow me,' he said, walking into the academy with the auburn haired girl following behind silently. 'Welcome to Gakuen Alice. My name is Narumi, nice to meet you, Mikan-chan.'

Narumi still received the same reply; silence. He scratched his head. _Okay…Not too talkative, I see._

Narumi lead the girl past a large building which he told her is the Elementary Branch Dorms. Then they finally arrived in front of a tall red building with the words 'Middle School Dorms' written on the top. He led her up towards a room with a Special Star sticker on the door.

'Here we are. This is your room.' Mikan opened the door slowly and saw a really large room with midnight blue wallpaper. Pink cherry blossoms were patterned on the walls giving the room a calm feeling. There was also a flat screen television and a king-sized bed.

'Here's your timetable,' Narumi said, handing the girl a white sheet of paper. 'Classes start tomorrow at eight. I'll meet you outside the classroom at that exact time, okay?'

Mikan nodded and then to the blonde haired teacher's astonishment, she then gave off a slight smile. 'Thank you.'

Narumi snapped out of his shock and when he looked back at the girl, the beautiful smile that was once on her face had completely disappeared and was once again replaced with an emotionless expression.

_She should smile more often, _the teacher thought and gave off his own smile. 'Well then, it's late. See you tomorrow, Mikan-chan!'

Mikan nodded and Narumi left the room and closed the door behind him quietly. As soon as he was gone, Mikan let out a slight sigh and lied down on her new bed and immediately drifted off to sleep. She figured that she could unpack tomorrow seeing as how it was too late already and she was way too tired already.

**-X-**

'Kurai-san, Sakura Mikan had successfully arrived at Gakuen Alice,' a man with red hair and violet eyes said.

Kurai smirked. 'Then let the games begin,' he said with a chuckle. The other male chuckled slightly as well. Unbeknownst to them, Yuka was outside on the other side of the door the entire time. Although she had looked unworried, her eyes had betrayed her of showing emotions.

_Mikan…_

**-X-**

**Author's Note:**  
Thanks for reading. So now Mikan's in the academy. Sorry if this chapter seemed a bit boring. I promise that the next one would be better. Let's try ten reviews this time and once again no flames.

**-X-**

**The Pretty List:**

_niceladysakura_

_xSapphirexRosesxFanx_

_xMidnightrose22_

_Olympiangirl_

_Moon'sAbyss_

_Alwaysbtheir_

_alleycat2090_

_chris3169512_

_CherryBlossomGirl_

_natsumemikan4eva_

Thanks a lot for reviewing on the last chapter.

**-X-**

_-Setsuna_


	3. Chapter 2: Who's That Girl?

**Author's Note:**  
Thanks a lot for the reviews on the last chapter. I loved every single one of them. Here's the next chapter. After this chapter, the updates might start coming in more slower 'cause I've got an exam to focus on next week. But I'll try and update sooner. By the way, have you guys heard of the anime _Full Moon wo Sagashite_, _Kirarin Revolution _and _Shugo Chara_? They're really good and I recommend it for you guys to watch them. Now, on with chapter two!

**-X-**

**Chapter Two  
**_-Who's That Girl?-_

**-X-**

Rays of sunlight shone through the windows announcing the arrival of a new day to the world. Mikan cringed slightly at the unwanted brightness. She opened her olive-brown eyes and looked at the digital clock on the drawer. _**7:38**_ it read. She frowned slightly, realizing that she had less than half an hour to get ready for her first day of class.

She quickly jumped off the bed and grabbed her new uniform, which was folded neatly on top of the drawer, and quickly walked into the bathroom. After taking a five minute shower, Mikan grabbed a large comb and started brushing through her long auburn hair in front of the mirror. When she finished getting dressed into her new uniform, she grabbed two crimson coloured ribbons and tied her waist-length hair into two low ponytails. Mikan had in her left ear a sleeper with a sapphire stone handing off it. It was a Control Device for her Alice. Then she walked out of the room and headed towards 3-B, not noticing a bright yellow star left on the drawer.

On the way to her new class, people from all around her, mostly boys, stopped to stare at teen. Murmuring started to occur.

'Who's that?'

'Must be a new student?'

'I wonder what her Alice is.'

'She's beautiful...'

Mikan didn't stop for a second and continued towards her class. When she arrived she spotted Narumi waiting outside for her patiently.

'Good morning, Mikan-chan!' he exclaimed clapping his hands together.

'Morning,' Mikan muttered back.

Narumi then opened the wooden oak door which enabled Mikan to hear loud noises from inside the classroom.

'When I give the signal, you may enter,' the blonde haired teacher said.

Mikan nodded and Narumi walked into the class, closing the door behind him. The auburn haired girl closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, trying to drown out the voices of students from all around her.

**-X-**

'Alright class, please settle down!' Narumi said. The students got quiet and went towards their seats and sat down.

'I have an announcement to make. As of today, we will be having a new student joining us. Please treat her nicely.'

Whispers started as soon as Narumi had finished his last sentence.

'I wonder who the new student is.'

'Hope she's nice.'

'I wonder what her Alice is.'

Then a loud voice broke through all the whispering. 'Sensei, we don't need any more new students,' a fifteen year old green haired girl exclaimed. She is Shouda Sumire. She is totally against the idea of having a new student in the class, especially if it was a girl. Sumire thought that this new student would take a certain someone away from her. Not that he belonged to her in the first place.

'Please sit down, Shouda-san,' Narumi said. Sumire huffed and sat down angrily.

'Now, you may come in!'

As soon as Narumi said that, the doors opened and in walked Mikan with her usual emotionless expression on her face.

'Class, this is Sakura Mikan. Any questions?'

A raven haired girl almost dropped the book that she was reading. Her violet eyes shifted towards the girl standing in front of the class. If she wasn't the famous Imai Hotaru, she would have gasped at seeing the face of her childhood best friend.

_Mikan, what is she doing here?_ She thought shocked. The two had been close friends ever since they were three. But after two years, Mikan had been separated from Hotaru one mysterious night. Ever since that day, Hotaru had not seen the girl for years that is until now. The many questions that were still stuck in her head were all yearning to come out all at once but with all her strength, Hotaru keep them all from escaping. She'll just have to consult Mikan about this later.

Many students raised their hands and Narumi picked a dirty blonde haired boy with a carefree expression on his face.

'Yes, Kokoroyomi-kun,' Narumi said.

Koko put his hand down. 'Why can't I read your mind?' he asked.

The class was also anxious after hearing that from the infamous mind reader. Narumi turned to the auburn haired girl in wonder.

_Come to think of it, I never asked what her Alice is, _he thought.

There was a moment of silence but it was broken when Mikan spoke up in a soft tone. 'It's because I have the Nullification Alice. It cancels out the effects of other Alices.'

Koko mouthed an 'oh' and returned back to his carefree expression.

'Anymore questions?' Narumi asked, but he was actually thinking about her response. _Nullification, that's a really rare Alice. The only person I know of who had that Alice is long dead. Could she be…?_

'What's your Star Level, or are you a no-star?' Sumire asked haughtily, not seeing any stars on her uniform.

Mikan turned to Narumi. _What is my Star Level? _Her eyes asked.

Narumi seemed to have received the message. 'Mikan-chan is a Special Star,' he announced.

Murmuring started across the classroom once again. Sumire frowned and glared Mikan, who had an aloof expression on her face that had now replaced her emotionless one.

'Then what Ability Class is she in?' she asked frowning.

'Special Ability,' Narumi said.

The green haired girl scoffed. 'So much for being a Special Star; this girl is with the drop-outs? Ha!' she sneered at Mikan.

'Shouda-san, please retrain yourself from saying those things,' Narumi said in a serious tone. 'Or else we'll have to drop your Star Level.'

After hearing that, Sumire shut up but not before giving the calm olive-brown eyed girl a glare.

'Now then,' the blonde haired teacher said, returning back to his cheerful expression. 'You may sit at the back row over there.' Narumi pointed at a long desk at the back where there sat a blonde haired boy with blue-grey eyes.

Mikan nodded and walked towards her assigned seats. As she walked past the students in the class all started muttered once again.

Sumire saw that the girl was walking closer to her and she took this as an opportunity to humiliate her. The emerald eyed girl stuck her foot out, hoping that Mikan would trip. But unfortunately for her, Mikan had seen what she did and jumped over Sumire's outstretched leg.

Mikan suddenly stopped in her tracks and everyone turned towards her, including Sumire. Then she spoke in a somewhat taunting tone.

'Nice try…Permy,' Mikan said, giving off a really small smirk that was barely noticeable. She then continued towards her seat with everyone's eyes on her.

Sumire's eyes lit up with fury. Not once in her life had she been called that horrible name. Her eyes darkened and she clenched her teeth tightly. _You're going down, Sakura!_ Her friend Wakako backed away from her with a slightly scared expression on her face.

'C-calm down, Sumire-san,' she stuttered, but immediately shut up when Sumire turned and glared at her.

Mikan arrived at her seat and sat down quietly. The boy next to her looked at her from the corner of his eyes in wonder. Normally, a normal girl would just throw themselves at him after seeing his face and start flirting with him, but Mikan just sat there looking uninterested. She even had the guts to insult Shouda Sumire, the president of his fan club. The blonde's gaze shifted back to Narumi, who had begun his lesson. This girl is truly interesting, he mused.

Class ended quickly and Mikan didn't waste anytime in leaving the noisy room. She walked across many students in the academy, who once again stopped and stared at the passing beauty. A few boys even whistled at her but she just ignored them. She arrived at a lane filled with cherry blossom trees. The blazing sun glared down at her, causing the auburn haired girl to sweat slight. Mikan covered her eyes and took some shelter under the largest sakura tree. She closed her eyes and listened carefully to nature's call. As soon as she was about to drift off to sleep, she heard a cold voice.

'Oi, you're in my spot.'

Mikan looked up and saw a raven haired teen looking down at her. Emotionless olive-brown orbs met fiery crimson ones. Mikan leaned on the trunk of the tree for support and got up slowly.

'Really, I don't see your name on it,' she muttered, dusting her uniform. As soon as she took one step away Mikan felt a strong hand gripping her wrist. She turned to see the raven haired boy glaring at her.

'What's your name?' he asked in a demanding tone.

Mikan frowned and tried to snatch her hand away from him, but it turns out that he was too strong. Obviously he won't let go until he got a decent answer.

'Why should I tell you?' she asked calmly.

The fifteen year old boy's glare hardened slightly. Never once had he met a girl that is so stubborn. But at the same time, she had caught his attention. Normally, girls wouldn't even hesitate to answer his question and would also blush if he ever made contact them, but this girl was different. She had not answered his question and did not blush one bit, but instead gave him an emotionless look. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't realize his grip loosening slightly.

Mikan took this as an opportunity to snatch her hand back. When the raven haired boy snapped back into reality, the auburn haired girl had already started walking off. He stared at the girl's back with his cold crimson eyes. Who is that girl, he wondered. For once in his life, Hyuuga Natsume had found something that interested him.

The bell went, signaling the start of the next period. Natsume walked off towards the classroom. Normally he would skip the class but his mind right now was too reoccupied to read his manga. As he made his way to 3-B females from all around him started giggling and blush as he walked past. Natsume frowned with annoyance. He hated his fan girls.

When he arrived in the classroom he realized that something was different. One; the classroom was noisier that before. Two; no one even noticed his presence, and three; students were crowded around his seat, looking at something or _someone_.

Natsume moved his head slightly past the crowd of students and narrowed his eyes at the sight. There sitting on his seat was an auburn haired girl with a familiar pair of emotionless olive-brown eyes.

_What the hell is _she_ doing here?_

**-X-**

**Author's Note:**  
Thanks for reading! Ten more reviews please. More would be good as well. Every one of your reviews encourages me to write more chapters, except for flames of course. So please review. Like I said before, I'm going to be busy with exams next week so the updates might be a bit slow. But once I'm done with them I'll get back to my stories straight away.

**-X-**

**The Pretty List:**

_xSapphirexRosesxFanx_

_fitha_

_Moon'sAbyss_

_xmidnightrose22_

_Tear Droplet_

_iimAdOrKabLe_

_Olympiangirl_

_chris3169512_

_niceladysakura_

_DiaGalCutie_

_SakuraHime27_

_natsumikan4eva_

_CherryBlossomGirl_

Thanks for reviewing!

**-X-**

_-Setsuna_


	4. Chapter 3: I'll Be Your Friend

**Author's Note:**  
Here's chapter three. Hope you enjoy it. By the way, this is a NatsuMikan story. But there won't be any actual NatsuMikan moment for about one or two more chapters, but it won't be that long. I first want to develop on the plot first and then go into romance.

**-X-**

**Chapter Three  
**_-I'll Be Your Friend-_

**-X-**

For once in her life, Sakura Mikan felt slightly annoyed. All she did was just walk into the classroom casually so why did she have to deserve this? As soon as she reached her seat, girls and boys all crowded around her and started annoying her by asking her a bunch of questions.

'How are you?'

'What's your Alice again?'

'Can you please show it to us?'

'Hey babe, you're so sexy.'

Okay, so the last one wasn't a question but the male who said that did receive a nasty glare for the comment. The frightened boy backed away from the cold auburn haired girl after seeing her glare. It was like being stabbed to death.

Mikan shifted her gaze towards the window, trying to drown out the annoying voices of her new classmates.

'Um, excuse me,' a soft voice said. Mikan turned around and saw two girls standing before her with a smile on their faces. One had long straight midnight blue hair and sapphire coloured eyes while the other girl had long curly pink hair and a pair of baby blue eyes.

'I'm Umenomiya Anna,' the pink haired girl said.

'And I'm Ogasawara Nonoko,' the blue haired one said.

'If it's okay with you, can we please be your friends?' Anna asked smiling along with Nonoko.

Mikan just stared at them both before turning away. Both of the girl's shoulders dropped at the failed attempt to gain a new friend but then straightened themselves after hearing Mikan's next comment.

'I'll think about it.'

Anna and Nonoko both grinned at each other. At least she didn't turn them down.

'Thank you, Mikan-chan!' they both chorused.

Elsewhere, in the corner of the classroom, Sumire stood with her arms crossed. She glared daggers at Mikan.

_What's with this new student? She only just arrived a few hours ago and yet she already has her own fan club!_ She thought angrily, seeing some boys holding up a banner saying _The Sakura Mikan Fan Club_.

_What the hell?!_ She fumed.

Never in her life would Shouda Sumire ever admit that she is jealous. Never! Then from the corner of her eyes Sumire spotted a raven haired boy with crimson coloured eyes entering the classroom. Her eyes immediately lit up in admiration.

'Natsume-kun!' she squealed, running over to the boy. Right had before she made contact with him Natsume side-stepped and avoided her, causing her to crash into the wall.

The emerald eyed girl moaned in pain as she rubbed her head. _Natsume-kun, you're so cruel…_ She thought and lifted her head up. Sumire saw that Natsume was walking towards the crowd and was looking at Mikan?!

Sumire gritted her teeth. _Sakura again?! What's so great about her?! _She thought angrily, glaring at the auburn haired girl. _Why the hell is it always her?!_

Natsume walked towards Mikan with a frown upon his face. What is she doing here and why is she in his seat? He wondered feeling slightly annoyed. Shoving his way through the crowd, Natsume then stood before the stoic girl.

'Oi, little girl, move,' he demanded, glaring down at her.

Mikan looked up with her olive-brown eyes with no emotions in them. 'Why should I?' she simply asked.

'This is _my _seat,' Natsume stated.

Mikan frowned. What is with him, claiming that everything is his? First he claimed that she was in his spot at the sakura tree and now this. The auburn haired girl fought down the urge to strangle him.

'Whatever,' she muttered, getting up and allowing Natsume to sit on his seat.

Natsume sat down next to Ruka and then Mikan took a seat next to him.

'Who gave you the right to sit next to Natsume-san?' a seemingly bald boy asked. He is Mochiage, also called Mochu by his friends.

'In case you haven't noticed, this is the only seat that is available,' Mikan stated calmly.

Mochu gritted his teeth in anger and tried to use his Telekinesis Alice on her but failed.

'W-what? Why didn't my Alice work?' he asked slightly taken back.

'That's because my Alice is Nullification,' came the response.

Mochu gave Mikan a glare and then sat back down with a huff.

Class started and an old looking teacher entered. Mikan noticed that everyone in the class was quiet as Jinno, the math teacher begun his lesson. She shifted her eyes towards the window. Mikan understood everything that Jinno is saying since she had already learnt it at the AAO. So she began to doze off.

'Sakura!' a voice shouted. Mikan turned her attention towards the voice and saw the math teacher glaring at her while holding a metal stick in his hand. She just gave him an emotionless look.

'If my lesson is this boring, then I assume that you must know the answer on the board,' Jinno said, pointing his stick at a seemingly hard equation. 'Solve it.'

Mikan inwardly scoffed. _Easy,_ she thought, giving the teacher the correct answer. Jinno glared at the girl and gave her an even harder question. But once again, Mikan was able to solve it.

Mikan smirked slightly. 'Anything else you want to ask, _sensei_?' she asked in a slightly mocking tone.

Jinno gave the girl his death glare. When Mikan turned her attention back towards the window, he finally snapped. Pointing his metal stick at her, Jinno concentrated on his Alice and released a powerful bolt of lightning at the calm girl. Everyone in front of Mikan ducked their heads under the desks but before the bolt of lightning could reach her, it disappeared.

Natsume looked at the girl with slight interest. No one had ever been able to stop Jinno's attack before. That is except him.

_Not bad… _he thought with a slight smirk.

Jinno stepped back in shock. 'H-how?' he asked. Before Mikan got the chance to answer, the bell went for lunch. Jinno composed himself and walked out the classroom, but not before sending the girl a suspicious glare.

'Mikan-chan, are you okay?' Nonoko asked, walking over to the girl with Anna by her side.

'I'm alright,' Mikan said quietly and stood up. As she made her way out of the classroom a sold voice stopped her in her tracks.

'Wait.'

Mikan turned around, only to find herself face to face with Imai Hotaru, the Ice Queen of the academy.

'Mikan, what are you doing here?' she asked the girl in front of her.

Mikan was shocked, even though she didn't show it. _Who is this girl? _She thought.

'Who are you?' she voiced her thoughts.

If Hotaru was shocked then she sure didn't show it. How could she forget who she is? Hotaru and Mikan were best friends. Hotaru knew that Mikan would never forget that, so why doesn't she remember her?

The raven haired girl composed herself and looked at Mikan with a cold pair of violet orbs.

'I must have the wrong person,' she said, trying to convince herself more than the girl in front of her.

Mikan stared at the girl with confusion shown in her eyes.

'And to answer your question,' came Hotaru's voice. 'My name's Imai Hotaru. Don't forget it, baka.'

_Imai Hotaru, why does that name sound so familiar? _Mikan thought. Then pain suddenly shot through her head and she clutched it tightly with her hand.

'What's wrong, Mikan-chan?' Anna asked looking worried.

'N-nothing, I'm fine,' Mikan said through gritted teeth. 'Excuse me.' Without giving the pink haired girl a chance to say anything else, Mikan dashed out of the classroom.

'Mikan-chan…' Anna and Nonoko looked at the spot where Mikan last stood with worried eyes.

**-X-**

Mikan ran as fast as she could away from the classroom. She didn't want to cause a scene back there with that many people. The pain throbbing in her head was getting worse and the hot temperature out side was not helping one bit. A memory is stirred up inside Mikan's head and was now bursting to escape.

**-X-**

_An auburn haired girl sat on a swing under the pouring rain with tears in her olive-brown eyes. Suddenly she heard sounds of footsteps approaching. The girl looked up to see a figure holding and umbrella above her head._

'_W-who are you?' stuttered the three year old girl. In front of her was a beautiful raven haired girl with a pair of cold violet eyes._

'_My name is Imai Hotaru, and from now on I'll be your friend,' the girl stated emotionlessly._

**-X-**

Mikan screamed in pain at the sudden memory. Everything was becoming a blur to her and she couldn't take it anymore. The last thing she heard before drifting into the world of darkness was the sounds of approaching footsteps.

**-X-**

**Author's Note:**  
Arg! I hate this chapter! Sorry if it was kind of boring. Hopefully the next one can make up for that. Fifteen more reviews please. The next chapter will reveal a bit more about Mikan past. Please review. The next chapter is already half way done so you can expect to see it in a couple of days, if you review that is. Thanks for reading!

**-X-**

**The Pretty List:**

_Snush_

_fitha_

_xSapphirexRosesxFanx_

_ShiroNekoBeware_

_chris3169512_

_DiaGalCutie_

_Kai Hyuuga_

_niceladysakura_

_behindthisgirlshadow_

_Moon'sAbyss_

_Tear Droplet_

_ayumistar_

_Olympiangirl_

_kaWaIi TanGeRinE_

_allycat2090_

_SakuraHime27_

_CherryBlossomGirl_

_natsumikan4eva_

Thanks a lot for reviewing!

**-X-**

_-Setsuna_


	5. Chapter 4: Forgotten Memories

**Author's Note:**  
I'm so sorry for the late update. I was so busy these last few days and hardly had anytime to get on the computer! But now I finally managed to finish this chapter. Yay! And also, guess what today is…it's November 27th, in other words, Hyuuga Natsume's Birthday! Happy Birthday Natsume-kun! I'm planning on writing a birthday story for Natsume but it's not quite done yet, but when it is please read it. Now, on with the story!

**-X-**

**Chapter Four  
**_-Forgotten Memories-_

**-X-**

'_You freak!' _

_An auburn haired girl hugged her knees tightly as two other kids start to kick and poke her with sticks. _

'_You're a monster!'_

_The girl's eyes filled with tears as she heard those words. _

What did I do wrong? _She thought as the kid's foot came in contact with her fragile body._

**-X-**

'_Mommy?' _

'_Yes?' an auburn haired woman said smiling and turned to her three year old daughter._

'_Why do the other kids in the village call me a monster?' Mikan asked with her head bowed._

_The smile from the woman's face slid off and was slowly replaced with a frown._

'_Well Mikan, that's because you're different,' she said, refusing to meet her daughter's eyes._

'_Oh…'_

**-X-**

_Rain pelted down from the sky and onto a lone figure sitting on a swing. Bruises were all over the girl's body and crystal tears were in her olive-brown eyes, making her vision blurry. Sounds of footsteps approaching were heard through the loud rain. Mikan felt the rain stop making contact with her body. She looked up to see a raven haired girl looking down at her with seemingly cold violet coloured eyes. _

'_Baka,' the raven haired girl said. 'You're going to catch a cold if you stay out here.'_

'_W-who are you?' the three year old stuttered._

'_My name is Imai Hotaru, and from now on I'll be your friend,' the beautiful raven haired girl stated emotionlessly._

_Mikan looked up with teary eyes. _M-my friend?_ She thought slightly shocked._

**-X-**

_A four year old auburn haired girl lay under a large tree and looked up at the sky with a grin on her face. Her olive-brown eyes reflected a huge amount of happiness._

'_Ne, Hotaru. Don't you think that that cloud over there looks like a kitty?' she asked the raven haired girl lying beside her._

'_Really, I think it looks more like someone being stabbed in the stomach,' Hotaru said flatly with boredom in her tone. _

_Mikan pouted cutely. 'Mou, Hotaru you meanie,' she whined, grabbing the girl into a hug. _

_Hotaru glared at the auburn haired girl with annoyance now shown in her eyes. 'Let go of me, you baka,' she said._

_Mikan ignored her and continued to hug the stoic girl with a smile on her face._

_Hotaru sighed while rolling her eyes. 'Well, I guess it can't be helped…' The raven haired girl looked up at the sky and tried to ignore the fact that her best friend is clinging tightly to her._

**-X-**

'_No! I don't want to leave Hotaru!' Mikan shouted at a man with black haired and sapphire coloured eyes. The man nodded at two guards dressed in black and they both grabbed a hold of her small arms. The girl thrashed and struggled to get out of their hands. _

'_Mikan, please listen to me. This is for the best,' her mother, Yuka stated with slight sadness in her tone. She didn't want to see her daughter suffer like this but it just had to be done._

'_Do you mean to say that leaving Hotaru is for the best?!' Mikan shouted at her mother._

'…' _Yuka didn't respond._

_Mikan felt tears swelling up in her eyes. 'I hate you, mommy! I hate you!' she shouted before she could control herself. The auburn haired girl continued to thrash and thrash not noticing how her mother's eyes lit up with sadness and guilt when she said those words. _

'_Knock her out,' the black haired man commanded the guards._

'_Yes sir.' _

_Mikan felt herself plunging into the world of darkness from the sudden pain at the back of her neck. _

Hotaru… _She thought before losing consciousness completely. _

**-X-**

'_Let me go!' seven year old Sakura Mikan yelled at the black haired man standing before her with a frown on his face. She struggled against two guards who held her down on the chair. _

'_Kurai-sama, should we tie her up?' one of the guards asked. Kurai nodded and the guard got out a long piece of rope and strapped her on the chair tightly. _

'_You may leave,' Kurai told the two guards. They both nodded and left the room. _

_Mikan watched in horror as the sapphire eyed man walked closer to her with a smirk on his face._

'_W-what are you going to do?' she stuttered. Kurai didn't answer; instead he reached his hand out and touched the centre of her forehead with two of his fingers._

'_I'm erasing all the memories of your past,' he said. Mikan's eyes widened. If he is going erase her memories then that would mean that she would forget Hotaru as well! No, she won't let that-._

'_Ahhhh!'_

_Her thoughts were cut off short when an electrifying pain zapped through her brain._

H-Hotaru, help me… _were her last thoughts before she drifted unconscious._

**-X-**

Mikan opened her eyes in shock and sat up immediately. She looked around and saw that almost everything was white. She was in a hospital. Mikan let out a sigh and rubbed her forehead.

_A dream? _She thought and then closed her eyes. _No…it seemed more like a memory._

'I see you're awake,' a voice suddenly said, startling her. Mikan turned to her right to see a seventeen year old boy with messy raven hair and sapphire colored eyes. Behind him was a seventeen year old girl with shoulder-length pink hair and a pair of crimson eyes.

_They look like Hyuuga's,' _Mikan thought, referring to the girl's eyes. The auburn haired girl shook her head at the thought. _What am I thinking?_

'So anyway,' the girl's voice said, snapping Mikan out of her daze. 'Tsubasa and I were heading to class when we found you collapsed in the hallways. Are you alright?'

Mikan slowly nodded. 'I'm fine. But who are you?' she asked.

The girl smiled. 'Harada Misaki,' she said and then pointed at the boy next to her. 'And this is Andou Tsubasa.'

'Yo,' Tsubasa waved at her.

Mikan nodded again. 'Sakura Mikan,' she introduced herself. Tsubasa's eyes lit up in recognition. Mikan didn't know whether to pretend that she didn't see that or run like the wind. The last thing she need is more fans.

'So you're the girl that everyone was talking about, eh?' Tsubasa said.

'Huh?' Misaki said confused.

Tsubasa narrowed his eyes at her slyly. 'Aw, come on Misaki. I never knew you were this slow,' he teased.

Misaki gave the raven haired boy a death glare and whacked him over the head.

'Ow, what was that for!' Tsubasa glared at his childhood friend.

Mikan sweat dropped at the sight. It seemed as if the two quarrelling teens had forgotten that Mikan was still in the room already. The auburn haired girl made a fake cough to get their attention. It worked seeing as how the two turned their attention back towards Mikan and ceased their arguing.

Tsubasa rubbed the back of his head and grinned sheepishly. 'Sorry about that,' he said.

'…' was Mikan's response.

Tsubasa sweat dropped at the silence.

'Well, we better get going,' Misaki said smiling. 'We'll see you later then.' Just as the pink haired girl was about to drag Tsubasa out of the door a sudden voice stopped them in their tracks.

'Wait…'

The two turned to see Mikan staring at them blankly. Then to their amazement, the auburn haired girl's mouth then twisted up into a beautiful smile.

'Thank you…'

'Y-you're welcome, Mikan-chan,' Misaki said, snapping out of her amazement. At first she had thought that the girl was just an emotionless teenager who couldn't even smile, but it turns out that she was only half correct. It is true that Mikan is emotionless, but she is able to smile sometimes; just really rarely. But when Mikan does smile, it feels as if you've met an angel.

'W-well, we got to go,' Tsubasa stuttered slightly and walked out the door quickly.

'Bye, Mikan-chan,' Misaki said, following her childhood friend out as well.

Mikan's smile faded as soon as the two left the room. She sat up and clutched her head when pain suddenly shot through it. Then she felt the presence of another Alice in the room.

'I know you're there. Come out,' she said calmly but softly at the same time. Sound of hands clapping could be heard then the person stepped out of the shadows and stood in front of Mikan with a smirk on his face.

Mikan's eyes narrowed. 'What are you doing here?'

**-X-**

Hyuuga Natsume walked through the hallways with his thoughts occupied with a certain auburn-haired girl. He didn't know why, but somehow that girl's aura has attracted him. Natsume knew that there is more to her than what meets the eye and he is determined to find out what it was.

Without knowing it, Natsume let his legs carry him straight towards the hospital. His thoughts were still on Mikan. Never once in his life has he met a girl so cold, so smart, so powerful, so annoying, so…_interesting_. There's something about this girl that makes her so different to any other girl's that he's ever met in his life. Her attitude towards him was also really different. She never did ogle at him like any other girl would. Although she may have the same cold personality as Natsume, Natsume felt that they were really different in many ways.

'You're getting too soft,' a voice said, stopping Natsume in front of his tracks. Natsume walked towards the source of the voice which was coming from inside one of the hospital rooms. He leaned against the wall and listened closely.

'Don't forget your mission,' said the person again. Judging from the deep tone, Natsume knew that it was a male speaking.

'What are you doing here?' a female's soft voice asked. Natsume's eyes widened slightly, recognizing the voice.

_Sakura?! _He thought. _What is she doing here?_

Natsume then heard a chuckle coming from the man. 'You'll find out later,' the man said. 'See you later, Sakura Mikan and don't forget your mission. You wouldn't want Kurai-san to get mad.'

'…'

Natsume then felt the presence of the man disappear into thin air. _What was that about? _The raven-haired boy wondered. Could it be that Mikan is also given missions by the school just like him? And who the hell is this Kurai guy? He is definitely not one of the staff members at Gakuen Alice. Who was that other guy that was there in the room a while ago? So many question and Natsume wanted to ask them all at once, but he knew that this isn't the right time for that. So he finally came to a conclusion. Mikan must be forced to do the academy's dirty work, just like him.

'Perhaps we're not so different after all,' Natsume muttered, and proceeded to walk off.

Little did he know, Mikan had known that he was there the whole time, listening in on their conversation. She had also heard his last comment.

'_Perhaps we're not so different after all.'_

_What did he mean by that? _Mikan wondered as she stared out the window.

**-X-**

**Author's Note:**  
Yay, I'm finally finished. Twenty more reviews please. No flames! Natsume doesn't need to deal with any flames especially on his birthday! I'll try and get the next chapter up quicker next time, but only if you review. Thanks for reading!

**-X-**

**The Pretty List:**

_Bloomer123_

_WhispersOfTheWind_

_sweetsunshine299_

_Moon'sAbyss_

_allycat2090_

_fitha_

_xSapphirexRosesxFanx_

_Tear Droplet_

_iimAdOrKabLe_

_loubell_

_Youichiix33_

_Emmoria_

_natsumikan4eva_

_chris3169512_

_DiaGalCutie_

_xoxFluffyzzzxox_

_SakuraHime27_

_CherryBlossomGirl_

_kaho14belle_

_tentenmae_

_kaWaIi TanGeRinE_

_Taeniaea_

_oObroken-wingsOo_

_Alwaysbtheir_

Thanks a lot for reviewing!

**-X-**

_-Setsuna_


	6. Chapter 5: School Festival

**Author's Note:**  
Sorry for the late update. I've been really sick these last few days so I couldn't use the computer as much. But now I'm back! Here's the fifth chapter! Sorry if it's short.

**-X-**

**Chapter Five  
**_-School Festival-_

**-X-**

The next day, Mikan walked back to the classroom and immediately was surrounded by her annoying fans. If she wasn't taught how to be patient, these boys would have been long dead by now.

'Mikan-chan!' Anna's voice came as Nonoko and she ran towards the emotionless girl.

'We heard that you collapsed in the hallways,' Nonoko said.

'Are you alright?' Anna asked with a worried expression on her face.

Mikan just nodded walked towards her seat. When she sat down, the auburn haired girl noticed the raven haired boy sitting next to her with his feet on the desk and his manga on his face. Even though his face was covered, Mikan could tell that the fire caster was asleep because of the steady rise of his chest.

'_Perhaps we're not so different after all.'_

Mikan jerked slightly when his voice came back into her head. Come to think of it, she never had gotten the chance to ask him about what he meant. The auburn haired girl inwardly shook her head.

_Why am I getting so worked up about this? _She thought as she cursed herself. She has better things to worry about than this.

The bell rang, snapping Mikan out of her thoughts. Then Narumi and the substitute teacher, Fukutan walked in and everyone in the class sat back down in their seats.

'Good morning, my wonderful students!' Narumi said happily as he clapped his hands together. And as usual, no one responded to his greeting.

'I have some wonderful news to tell you all and I'm sure you're going to like it.'

Some of the student's interest perked up while the rest remained uncaring.

'Tomorrow is the start of this year's School Festival!' the blonde haired teacher announced.

As soon as the news was announced, almost everyone in the class jumped up and cheered with excitement. The School Festival is always the most entertaining event of the year to the student of Gakuen Alice.

'Alright, please settle down,' Narumi said to the enthusiastic class. The class quieted down a bit but you could still hear whispers in the background.

'After this period, you will be asked to go to your Ability Classes and work out an event that you'll be doing. Okay, that's all. I'll leave the rest to you, Fukutan-sensei. Adieu!' Narumi waved at the class and walked out.

'Narumi-sensei, don't leave me with this violent class!' Fukutan cried, running after the blonde haired teacher, leaving just the student in the class.

The class got noisier again and began chatting to their friends about the up coming festival.

'Mikan-chan, are you excited about the festival?' Nonoko asked.

'What's it about?' Mikan asked, not really caring whether she tells her or not.

'It's an event that the academy celebrates once every year,' Anna explained. 'It usually goes on for about two week. The School Festivals include fun and games which you can enjoy with your friends and your Ability Class.'

Mikan nodded understandingly.

'And on the last night the school holds a big dance party,' Nonoko added. 'It's so exciting.'

'Sound fun,' Mikan murmured. Never once in her life has she ever had fun with friends at any type of festival before. Even though she wouldn't admit it, the auburn haired girl is a bit excited about festival. The corners of Mikan's mouth twitched up ever so slightly.

Meanwhile, the boy next to her got woken up by the loud voices of his classmates. The manga on his face began to slide off to reveal his slightly annoyed expression. Natsume never liked the School Festival. Since the Dangerous Ability Class wasn't allowed to participate in the events, their instructor would give everyone in the class twice the amount of missions just to pass up time. That was one of the main reasons he never liked the School Festival. The other reason was simply because he hated loud and annoying events.

Natsume's eyes shifted to his left and saw Mikan sitting there with Anna and Nonoko surrounding her and telling her about the festival with excitement in their tone. He inwardly rolled his eyes. Why do girls always get excited? As smart as he is, Natsume could never understand the mind of a female. Before he turned his eyes away, the raven haired boy spotted the corner of Mikan's mouth twitching up slightly as if she was _smiling_? Natsume was slightly taken back by this. Who knew that this girl could smile? As he looked closer, Natsume realized how good she looked with a smile on her face.

_She actually looks quite beautiful. _Then he inwardly shook his head. _What the hell am I thinking?_

The bell rang and everyone quickly piled out of the classroom excitedly leaving just Natsume and Mikan behind. Natsume gave no sign that he heard the bell and continued reading his manga but not before a voice interrupted him.

'Aren't you going?'

Natsume didn't even bother to look up from his manga. 'There's no point,' he simply said.

Mikan collected all her books and got up from her seat and stared at the raven haired boy.

'Aren't you going to your ability class to plan what you're doing?' she asked, ignoring his last answer.

Natsume looked up with a slightly annoyed expression on his face. 'I told you, there's no point. Now get out of my sight, little girl,' he sneered and gave her an evil look.

Mikan remained unfazed but she did frown a bit. 'Hn,' with that, she walked out of the classroom leaving Natsume alone.

Natsume stared at retreating back of the girl. He had actually expected her to yell at him for his rudeness but all he got was this. Natsume has never met a girl like this ever before. She just keeps getting more and more interesting.

'That was a surprise,' came a voice from the shadows.

'What do you want, Persona?' Natsume asked, not bothering to turn around.

A man with spiky black haired wearing a mask that covered his eyes and nose stepped out of the shadows from behind the raven haired teen.

'Normally you would have burnt anyone that tries to annoy you, but not this time. Why the sudden change of mood, Kuro Neko?' Persona asked as he leaned against the back walls of the classroom.

Natsume got up from his seat; still not turning around to face him. 'None of your business,' he snarled. 'What do you want?'

Persona chuckled slightly. 'Now, now, lets not get hasty, Natsume,' he said with a smirk. 'You have a mission. Here are the details.' He held out a piece of rolled parchment in his hands.

Natsume frowned and grabbed the paper and quickly put it in his pocket before proceeding out the room.

'Natsume,' Persona called, stopping the said boy in his tracks. 'You should also watch out for that strangely coloured kitten.'

This caught Natsume's attention and he immediately turned to face the Dangerous Ability teacher only to find no one there.

'Che,' Natsume gritted his teeth.

_What the hell did he mean by that?_

**-X-**

**Author's Note:**  
I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't that good. I was actually in a rush to post this up. So instead of asking for twenty reviews like I normally would, I'll just ask for fifteen. Of course more would be nice! No flames. I'll try and get the next chapter up faster, but I can't promise you anything. Once again, I'm sorry.

**-X-**

**The Pretty List:**

_kaho14belle_

_kimi-hime-chan_

_FaN-LiFe13_

_kaWaIi TanGeRinE_

_oObroken-wingsOo_

_Eriche M.S._

_Moon'sAbyss_

_xSapphirexRosesxFanx_

_Youichiix33_

_Tear Droplet_

_ShiroNekoBeAware_

_DiaGalCutie_

_Olympiangirl_

_chris3169512_

_iimAdOrKabLe_

_tentenmae_

_natsumikan4eva_

_CherryBlossomGirl_

_SakuraHime27_

_vk-kuran_

_Akazukin-san_

Thanks a lot for reviewing! I love you all~!

**-X-**

_-Setsuna_


	7. Chapter 6: Disappointment

**Author's Note:**  
Here's chapter six. I honestly hadn't expected to get more than fifteen reviews in the last chapter but you proved me wrong. Thanks a lot! By the way, I recently created a NatsuMikan community for all those well written NatsuMikan fics and I'm currently looking for staff members. If you're interested in becoming one please tell me when you review and I'll send you an invitation. Now then, on to chapter six!

**-X-**

**Chapter Six  
**_-Disappointment-_

**-X-**

Mikan stood in front of the large doors of the Special Ability classroom. Her hand reached up slowly and pushed the doors open slightly to poke her head in, only to see nothing but darkness.

_Perhaps this is the wrong classroom, _the auburn haired girl thought. But then a sudden movement startled her slightly. Slowly, she walked into the room. As soon as she closed the doors behind her, the lights immediately switched on and students of all ages jumped up from behind the classroom furniture and yelled, 'Surprise!'

Mikan held her hands up and shielded herself from the sudden burst of brightness. Then she slowly lifted her hands down to see people crowded around her with amused expressions on their face. Behind them was a large banner hanging down from the ceiling. It said in big bold letters: _**Welcome Newcomer**_.

Mikan's eyebrow rose in confusion. 'What is this?' she asked quietly, but not quiet enough for the Special Ability students.

'What do mean?' a voice from behind her came. Mikan turned around to see Tsubasa and Misaki grinning at her.

'This is obviously a welcome party,' Tsubasa said, pushing her forward towards the other Special Ability members.

Mikan looked up at them. Judging from their height, most of them were around Tsubasa and Misaki's age. The nullifier hopes that they'll not make any annoying comments about her like how her other classmates did.

'So what's your name?' a boy a few years older than her asked.

'Sakura Mikan,' she replied monotonously.

'Mikan, huh? You're really cute, you know that?' he commented. Oh well, spoke too soon…

'Hn.'

'What's your Alice, Mikan-chan?' Misaki asked her.

'…Nullification,' she said quietly hoping that the pink haired teen would not catch what she said. After all, she was an enemy of Gakuen Alice and she shouldn't let too much people know about her Alice because it might cause trouble for the AAO. But unfortunately for Mikan, the pink haired girl was able to catch her words clearly as well as the rest of the class.

'Nullification, huh?' Tsubasa mused, rubbing his chin in thought. 'That's quite rare.'

'Why are we having a party?' Mikan asked all of a sudden. 'Shouldn't we be preparing for the School Festival?'

The smiles that used to be present on everyone's face slowly began to disappear and were replaced with a grim look.

'W-well, it's not really important to us. I-I mean the School Festival,' Tsubasa said, noticing everyone's change in mood when she asked that question. 'L-lets eat.'

'Yeah, I'm getting hungry,' Misaki exclaimed, helping Tsubasa out.

Mikan could sense that something is wrong but didn't comment on it. She allowed Misaki and Tsubasa to lead her to a long rectangular shaped table with all kinds of food placed on it. Before she knew it the mood that the class gave of earlier began to disappear and was replaced with enjoyment. Pretty soon, all the food disappeared completely.

'That was delicious!' Tsubasa exclaimed, rubbing his stomach. 'I'm stuffed!'

'That's 'cause you eat like a pig,' Misaki teased him.

'What did you say?!'

'I said that you eat like a pig!'

'Why you…!'

Mikan smiled slightly at the bickering teens. It must be wonderful to be able to freely show your emotions to others, she mused. Although she would not ever admit it, Mikan was jealous; jealous of such a simple thing that may seem meaningless. While others were able to freely express themselves by showing emotions she is just hiding behind an emotionless façade. The auburn haired girl just wished that she can be like everyone else who isn't hiding behind a mask, but she knew very well that the Anti-Alice Organization would not allow that, especially Kurai.

Deciding that she had enough of watching the two argue, Mikan decided to ask about the response that Tsubasa gave her earlier.

'What did you mean when you said that the School Festival isn't really that important?'

Tsubasa and Misaki ceased their argument and turned towards the patient auburn haired girl who was waiting for an answer.

Tsubasa sighed, deciding that he shouldn't keep this from her any longer. 'Well, because this is the Special Ability class everyone here has different types of Alices so it's hard to organize a suitable event for the festival,' he explained.

'We tried every year to make this a successful event but we end up failing each time,' Misaki added.

'And because of that, we get labeled more and more as drop-outs and good for nothings,' Tsubasa sighed. 'So this year, we've decided to just skip this event. Even if we did make our event successful, no one would bother to try it out.'

'They'll just mostly go to the Latent and Technical Ability areas,' Misaki stated.

'There's no point in trying to come up with something,' Tsubasa said, summing up his point.

'So are you just going to plan on giving up?' Mikan asked monotonously.

'Well, yeah…'

Without her knowing it, Mikan's fist clenched together slightly. 'How pathetic,' she muttered.

Misaki and Tsubasa both looked shocked. 'Mikan, what are you-?'

'The lack of motivation is why we always get picked on,' the auburn haired girl stated cutting Tsubasa off.

'I really had expected a lot more from you guys than just that. You guys are really pathetic.' Mikan knew that she was being harsh but she's just speaking the truth. The nullifier got up from her seat and headed towards the door without sparing a glance at the Special Ability students.

'I'm really disappointed in you, Tsubasa-senpai, Misaki-senpai,' she whispered before walking out completely, leaving the silent class to stare at the door.

It was a while before anyone spoke up.

'She sure is nosy.'

'Yeah…'

**-X-**

Natsume panted slightly behind his Kuro Neko mask as he dodged the bullet fired off from the enemy's gun. He blocked the next rain of bullets by creating a huge wall of fire. Natsume inwardly cursed at Persona for giving him such a mission. It is a lot more difficult than he had originally thought it would be. Sneak into the warehouse by the docks and steal the secret documents of the AAO but the fire caster didn't expect to run into twenty AAO guards as he made his way back towards the academy. So here he is, jumping from tree to tree while dodging the bullets fired of from their guns.

Natsume cringed in pain as a bullet grazed his right arm. With his uninjured hand, the Black Cat shot a large fireball the last remaining member, killing him instantly. He clutched in right arm in pain as he jumped through the forest. The skies grew dark signaling that it was night.

Sweat poured down his face despite the cold temperature. Natsume sighed as he finally reached the academy. With his last remaining strength he leaped over the fence and walked towards the school buildings. The raven haired lad felt as if all his strength had left him. His arm bled furiously as he staggered forward. Natsume leaned against a large tree for support.

_Damn you, Persona…_ were his last thoughts before his body gave in and went tumbling towards the ground.

Dark clouds loomed across the skies and a loud rumbling sound was heard, followed by droplets of water raining down from the grey skies.

**-X-**

Mikan made her way towards her dorm room slowly while thinking of today's event. The auburn haired girl had really been looking forward to the Alice Festival but thanks to the Special Ability class, it had ruined her mood completely. Mikan had really thought that they were the type of people to never give up and would always fight for what they want, but after witnessing what had happen today it had left her disgusted and disappointed.

'This day just can't get any worse,' she muttered to herself.

As if on queue, water fell from the dark and grey skies and onto her body.

Mikan frowned in annoyance. _Great~ Even Mother Nature's being evil, _she thought annoyed. Upon spotting a large tree a few meters away from where she is standing, Mikan quickly made her way over there, hoping that it could provide her with some shelter until the rain stops.

Mikan sighed and sat leaned against the thick trunk. _Hopefully it stops soon,_ she thought to herself. She definitely did not want to get sick. The auburn haired girl made a move to sit down but before that she put her hand down to feel whether the grass is dry or not. When her hand made contact with the grass she expected it to feel dry but instead felt something wet.

'Water?' she asked herself, lifting her palm up to have a look. Instead of it being transparent it was red and warm.

_Blood?_

Mikan quickly got up and ran to the other side of the trunk only to widen her eyes slightly at the sight. On the ground lying in his own pool of blood was the unconscious form of a boy wearing a black cat mask. The nullifier reached towards the mask and pulled it down to reveal the face of the boy.

Mikan's eyes hardened. _Hyuuga Natsume, huh? _

Deciding that this isn't a good time to be wondering what had happened, Mikan grabbed his arm and hauled him up and proceeded towards the hospital with great difficulty.

_You better owe me for this, Hyuuga._

Unbeknownst to her, a figure stood in the branch of the tree, watching her every movement. His black lips were pressed together in a straight line while his eyes were concealed behind a mask.

_Sakura Mikan, you really are interesting._

His lips curved up slightly to form a smirk before he disappeared off into the night.

**-X-**

**Author's Note:**  
Thanks for reading! Twenty more reviews please. I would like to have some feedback for this story. And just to remind you once again, if you're interested in being a staff member of my community please tell me when you review. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year, everyone!

**-X-**

**The Pretty List:**

_FaN-LiFe13_

_tenshi07_

_ShiroNekoBeAware_

_Moon'sAbyss_

_oObroken-wingsOo_

_niceladysakura_

_fitha_

_Olympiangirl_

_natsumikan4eva_

_iimaAdOrKabLe_

_Youichiix33_

_CherryBlossomGirl_

_SakuraHime27_

_chris3169512_

_kaWaIi TanGeRinE_

_vk-kuran_

_xSapphirexRosesxFanx_

_saline gelu_

_MoonliteShadow101_

_kisa-tan_

_Memorycutie_

_Chocolateoverdose_

Thank you all for reviewing~!

**-X-**

_-Setsuna_


	8. Chapter 7: Jealousy

**Author's Note:**  
I'm back with another chapter~! Sorry, this one might be a bit too short; at least I think it is. Anyways, on with chapter seven! Read and Review please.

**-X-**

**Chapter Seven  
**_-Jealousy-_

**-X-**

_Eight year old Natsume stared at the scene in front of his eyes in horror. Flames blanketed the entire village burning everything within its territory. Natsume coughed as smoke went through his lungs. But that didn't matter to him. What he was worried about was the whereabouts of his family. _

_Then, he heard it._

'_Onii-chan, help me…' _

_It was faint and perhaps too quiet to be heard over the roaring flames, but Natsume heard it loud and clear. _

_Without thinking, Natsume dashed into the fires, ignoring the shrieks and shouts of the other villagers. All that matters was finding _her_. _

Where are you? _He thought as he ran deeper into the burning house._

'_Onii-chan, I'm scared…'_

There! _Natsume kicked open the door of the bedroom. To his surprise, he found a girl just one year younger than him on the floor shivering, despite the heat that the flames gave off._

'_Buriko, what are you still doing in here?' Natsume asked angrily as he walked towards the raven haired girl. Despite his rough tone, Natsume couldn't help but feel relieved that she is still alive._

_The girl jumped at the sudden voice. 'Onii-chan?' she questioned, looking around aimlessly for her brother. 'Where are you?'_

_Natsume body stiffened at the question. He was right in front of her. Can't she see him? Bending down to her level, Natsume put a hand on her shoulder._

'_I'm right here, Aoi,' he said in a surprisingly calm voice._

_Aoi lifted her head to look at him with her crimson coloured eyes. Natsume froze at the sight of her eyes. It was totally different from the usual happy and bright eyes that she had. Right now, they looked so dull and dead._

'_Onii-chan, is that you?' she asked, grabbing a hold of his hand. 'Why is it so dark in here? I can't see anything.'_

_Natsume didn't know how to answer her question. It was most certainly not dark; the flames were giving off so much light that it could practically blind someone if they stood right in front of them. _

Is she blind?

_Deciding to ignore the question in his head, Natsume stood up hauling Aoi up in the process._

'_Let's go, Buriko,' he said, walking towards the door, dragging his sister along with him. Just as he was about to push the door open, the door burst into flames causing Aoi and him to jump back in shock._

_Natsume gritted his teeth. What is he going to do now?_

'_Onii-chan, why is it so hot?' Aoi asked; her grip on Natsume's hand tightened. 'Are we going to die?'_

'_Shut up, Buriko!' Natsume snapped. 'We won't die. I'll find a way out of here.' His eyes softened when he saw tears brimmed at the corner of her eyes. 'I promise…'_

_Aoi sniffled but smiled at his at words. _

_Natsume smiled before looking around to find an escape route. The door was out of the question seeing as how it's already smothered in flames. There were no other places to escape except the window._

That's it! _Natsume thought, running towards the window. He tried as hard as he could to open it only to find it sealed shut tightly._

Damn, maybe I could-

'_Onii-chan, watch out!' came Aoi's frantic voice. _

_Before he could respond, Natsume felt himself being pushed to his right roughly by another body. Although Aoi couldn't see anything, she had felt danger when a tremendous amount of heat appeared above where Natsume was standing. Without giving it much thought, Aoi ran towards her brother and pushed him aside roughly._

_Natsume eyes widened as debris covered in flames went tumbling down towards his sister._

'_AOI!'_

**-X-**

'AOI!'

Natsume's eyes snapped open. Sweat slid down his face as he tried to calm himself down. This was the third time he had this dream.

'Natsume!' a voice from his left called out in alarm. Natsume shifted his eyes towards the voice. It was Ruka.

'Are you alright?' he asked concerned.

'Aa,' he answered, closing his eyes trying to rid himself of that memory. 'Where am I?'

'The hospital. Sakura said that she found you unconscious last night and brought you here,' Ruka said, gesturing towards a girl who sat on a chair, staring at him impassively.

'Hn.'

Ruka smiled. 'Well, it's good that you're alright, Natsume. Try not to move too much. The doctor said that if you do it might reopen your wounds,' he said, gesturing towards the raven haired boy's bandages.

'Hn.'

The blonde sighed inwardly at his friend's lack of response. But after knowing him for so many years he knows that this is all he could get out of him.

'I've got to go. The Somatic Ability area needs my help on the preparations for the festival.'

Natsume nodded and Ruka walked out of the hospital room, leaving just Natsume and Mikan.

Silence hung in the air but it was broken surprisingly by the fire caster.

'Don't you need to prepare for the festival as well?' he asked.

'We're not doing anything,' came the response.

Natsume raised an eyebrow. 'Why not?' he asked.

'Lack of motivation,' Mikan said impassively.

'Hn.'

Silence surrounded them once again but this time Mikan was the one that broke with a surprising question.

'Who's Aoi?'

Natsume eyes narrowed. Why did she want to know?

'She's a girl,' he answered cautiously.

Mikan's body twitched slightly in annoyance. _Of course I know that!_

'Who's Aoi?' she asked once again.

Natsume glared at the auburn haired nullifier. 'Why do you want to know?' he asked.

'Is it that hard just to answer a simple question?' she countered his question with another.

Natsume glare hardened slightly, but nevertheless gave her an answer.

'Hn. She's my annoying sister.'

It may have been a trick of the light but Natsume thought that he saw Mikan's shoulders slump slightly in what seemed like relief; but relief from what exactly?

Mikan nodded, seemingly happy with the response and walked towards the door.

'Take care of yourself, Hyuuga,' she said before walking out the room.

'Hn.'

**-X-**

Mikan walked towards the Special Ability classroom wondering what had possessed her to asked Natsume such an irrelevant question. Who cares who this Aoi person was anyways?

_Certainly not me, _she denied. But then why did she felt a wave a relief washes through her body when Hyuuga announced that Aoi was his sister?

Mikan froze in her tracks when she finally came down to a conclusion.

Was she _jealous_?

No, absolutely _not_!

Shaking the unwanted thought out of her head, the auburn haired girl continued towards the classroom. Pushing the door opened, Mikan expected to find her classmates either sleeping or joking around but not _working_!

'Ah, Mikan, you're late!' Tsubasa exclaimed, walking up to her with a paintbrush in his right hand.

'What's going on?' she asked clearly confused.

Tsubasa looked away and smiled. 'Well, we thought about what you said yesterday and you were right; we did have a lack of motivation,' he said.

Misaki walked up to them. 'Thanks to you, we've all decided to work harder this year to make this event successful for all of us,' she said, putting an arm around Mikan's neck.

'Really?' Mikan asked.

'Of course!'

Tsubasa reached into his pocket and pulled out a list and handed it to Mikan, who read through it curiously.

'What's this?'

The Shadow Manipulator grinned. 'Since you're late you'll be given twice as much work as us. Start off by buying those items on the list,' he said.

Mikan nodded. 'Alright,' she answered, walking out of the room and towards Central Town. As she walked, a faint smile came upon her face. She'll be able to enjoy the School Festival with the Special Ability class afterwards.

As she passed the school gates, Mikan could see a large crowd of students pushing and shoving with excitement running through their veins.

_What's going on? _The auburn haired girl thought, walking closer to see what the commotion was about.

'Mikan-chan!' someone shouted over the noisy crowd. Mikan turned around to see Tobita Yuu along with Imai Hotaru running towards her. Well, Yuu was running; Hotaru simply walked.

'Iinchou, Hotaru-san,' Mikan nodded at both of them.

'Mikan,' Hotaru said. For some odd reason, Hotaru's voice had seemed vaguely familiar, as if she has heard it before.

'Are you here to see?' Yuu asked, cutting Mikan out of her thoughts.

'See what?'

'Idiot,' Hotaru muttered.

Mikan ignored her and looked at Yuu with a questioning gaze.

'Every year at the School Festival we have an opening ceremony event. For this year's opening ceremony we're going to have Mouri Reo, the famous singer, here to sing for us!'

Mikan's eyes widened slightly.

_Mouri Reo is coming to the academy?_

**-X-**

**Author's Note:**  
Okay. Another chapter is done. Twenty more review please. Flames are not accepted. I don't know how many times I've said that… See you again on the next chapter~!

**-X-**

**The Pretty List:**

_Mimi-me_

_FaN-LiFe13_

_angelji_

_niceladysakura_

_-anime-luvr25-_

_Fitha_

_Sakurasibling_

_FallenRaindrops_

_Moon'sAbyss_

_Akazukin-san_

_aznurbangrl_

_OxxStill DollxxO_

_natsumikan4eva_

_CherryBlossomGirl_

_xXxHyuuga-MikanxXx_

_WordlessDreams_

_xSapphirexRosesxFanx_

_Memorycutie_

_Chocolateoverdose_

_SilentGurl4Eva_

_NaTsUmIkAn RoMaNcE_

_MoonliteShadow101_

_bakagirl123_

_chris3169512_

_HarunaNiwa073_

_SimpleLuv_

Thanks for reviewing~!

**-X-**

_-Setsuna_


	9. Chapter 8: Expect The Unexpected

**Author's Note:**  
Here's the next chapter. I'm quiet happy with this one. Please read and review! Oh and by the way, this chapter is not proof-read so I'm sorry if you find any grammatical errors.

**-X-**

**Chapter Eight  
**_-Expect The Unexpected-_

**-X-**

_Mouri Reo is coming to the academy?_

Mikan was confused. Why would Reo need to come into the academy anyway? Unless Kurai had decided that she would need some help on her mission. As if! He knew perfectly well that she of all people didn't need any assistance especially on a mission as easy as this. Speaking of the mission, Mikan had almost forgotten about it. Because of the arrival of the School Festival it has caused her to forget one of the most important things she was supposed to do.

_This academy is making me way too forgetful. _The auburn haired girl rolled her eyes.

The sounds of shrieking and yelling brought her back to reality. Mikan looked over the crowd of people to see the guard opening the gate to allow a large black limo in. The limo pulled to a stop and a figure stepped out, making the students of the academy yell and scream with excitement once more.

_That's definitely Reo alright, _Mikan thought staring at brown haired, violet eyed man who was waving at the crowd of people.

Reo's eyes then suddenly locked with Mikan's. He smirked slightly before looking away.

Mikan's eyes narrowed. _What the hell does he want?_

'Mikan-chan, are you alright?' Yuu asked concerned. Mikan jumped at his sudden voice. She had been so caught up with Reo that she even forgotten that Yuu and Hotaru were still next to her. Well, Yuu was anyways; Hotaru went after Reo with a black camera in her hands as her eyes flashed with dollar signs.

'I'm fine,' she answered. 'Why do you ask?'

'Because you look kind of tense and I was wondering if anything was wrong,' Yuu said.

Mikan's shoulders slumped at his comment. He was right; she was a bit too tense. Somehow, Mikan's got this strange feeling that something bad is going to happen soon. Shoving that thought out of her mind, the auburn haired girl gave the illusionist a forced smile.

'Thanks for asking but I'm fine,' she said.

'Ah, okay…' Yuu said still not really convinced but didn't say anything else.

Mikan took this as an opportunity to get away from him as fast as possible.

'I've got to go. See you later,' she said.

'Okay. Bye, Mikan-chan!'

She gave him a nod and then headed to Central Town to gather the things on the list that Tsubasa gave her. The question of why Reo is here was still present within her mind. But Mikan figured that she will have to ask him later personally about it.

**-X-**

'Yo, Mikan, what took you so long?' Tsubasa said to the nullifier who walked into the classroom with two large plastics bags around her arms.

'Sorry,' she apologized, not bothering to answer his question. She dropped the two bags on the floor and rubbed her arms with a frown. Apparently they were really heavy and it had made her slightly tired.

Tsubasa noticed this and gave her a grin. 'Well, thanks for buying those. I'll let you off of work for now. We'll handle the rest; we're almost done with preparations anyways,' he said.

If Mikan had been someone else she would have jumped up with joy. Instead she just smiled and nod at him.

'Thank you, Tsubasa-senpai,' she said.

The midnight-blue haired teen grinned widely and ruffled her hair. 'No need to thank me. Now get going,' he said.

'Okay.' With a final nod, Mikan left the room.

Tsubasa soon switched into a curious expression as soon as Mikan left the room. 'Come to think of it she never answered my question. What took her so long anyway?'

Misaki then came up to him holding a paintbrush in her hand.

'It's probably because of Reo,' she said. 'He's quite popular, you know.'

Tsubasa rubbed his chin in thought. 'Reo, huh? I don't see what's so great about him. All he has is a pretty face. Personally, I think I look way better than him,' he said the last part to himself.

But Misaki heard him and smiled slyly. 'Oh, really?' she asked. Then without warning, she painted half his face red with her brush. 'Still think you're better looking than him now?'

Tsubasa clenched his teeth and gave her a death glare.

'Misaki!'

The said girl just laughed.

**-X-**

Mikan walked along the corridors with a relieved expression written on her face. She was glad that Tsubasa gave her some time off. She needed to find a way to approach Reo without gaining any suspicion from the people of Gakuen Alice. Maybe she could sneak into his room that he is currently staying in without getting caught. But that was easier said than done. The academy has heightened their security around Reo to make sure that his fans would keep away from him. One slip up and she could be sent straight to the faculty room for questioning.

_Nah, too risky, _the auburn haired girl thought.

As she passed by the science lab, she heard sounds of crashing a revolting smell coming from inside the lab. Curiosity got the best of her so she pushed open the door and walked in to see Nonoko dressed in a lab coat cleaning up broken pieces of a flask.

'What are you doing here?' Mikan asked as she looked around. Situated on the tables were different bottles containing different coloured liquids in them.

'Ah, Mikan-chan!' Nonoko said slightly alarmed. She didn't even sense Mikan presence when she came in. 'I'm just finishing up some of my potions for the School Festival.'

Mikan nodded and walked towards the jars of finished potions and looked at the labels. There were Truth Potions, Love Potions and others. But there was one that caught Mikan's attention. The liquid was pure black but it seems to change colour every time it's exposed to sunlight. Mikan picked it up to examine it properly. She noticed that unlike the others, this one didn't have a label.

'What's this one?' she asked Nonoko.

Nonoko looked up from her experiment when her friend asked her that question.

'That was originally supposed to be a potion that relieves stress but I sort of messed up a bit and made it into another potion,' she smiled. 'You can have it if you want. I don't really have a use for it anyway.'

'What does it do?' Mikan asked, not taking her eyes off the strange liquid.

'Well…'

The auburn haired girl listened to the explanation with growing fascination. This potion was just amazing but Mikan could understand why Nonoko wouldn't need it.

'I'm not 100 percent sure that it would work. It can also cause some really bad side affects if it's not handled properly,' the blue haired girl stated.

Mikan nodded and pocketed the potion. It could really be useful to her. 'Alright. Sorry for bothering you,' she apologized with a smile.

Nonoko smiled back. 'It's alright. See you later, Mikan-chan.'

Mikan walked out of the science lab with her thoughts on that mysterious potion. But her thoughts were cut short when she heard a chuckle coming from behind her. She turned around to see Mouri Reo leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. A smirk was present on his face.

He walked towards her and whispered in her ear, 'Come with me.'

Mikan followed him without hesitation. After all, she was planning on finding him anyway.

Reo led her towards his room and closed the door behind him when Mikan entered.

'It's been a while, Sakura,' he said as he sat down at the foot of his bed.

'Hn.'

The brown haired man smirked. 'I'd never thought I'd see you making friends. What happened to you anyways?' he asked.

Mikan glared at him. 'That's none of your business,' she said annoyed.

Reo chuckled. 'Alright, alright, no need to get so defensive. It's was just a question,' he said.

'Why are you here?'

'Kurai-san wanted me to tell you something…' he paused.

Mikan urged for him to go on.

'You are to return back to headquarters with me after I'm finished with my mission. He needs you to give him a report of what you discovered about this academy.'

Mikan inwardly cursed herself. What is supposed to tell him when she's got nothing to report? Then another question came into her mind.

'What's your mission?' she asked.

'Do you really want to know?'

Mikan nodded.

'Do you _really _want to know?'

The auburn haired girl that gave him a look that said 'Duh!'

'Do you _really, really _want to know?' Reo asked for the third time. He was deliberately doing this to get her riled up and boy was it working.

Mikan's eyes twitched in annoyance. She gave him a death glare.

Reo chuckled. 'Fine, I'll tell you,' he said. 'My mission is…'

Mikan leaned in closer to hear the rest.

'…to assassinate Hyuuga Natsume.'

Mikan's heart skipped a beat.

**-X-**

**Author's Note:**  
You didn't expect that did you? I was originally going to go with the 'kidnap Natsume mission' but decided that this is more interesting. But don't worry, this story is far from over it still has more than ten more chapters to go. Twenty more reviews please; no flames.

**-X-**

**The Pretty List:**

_WordlessDreams_

_YunaNeko_

_FaN-LiFe13_

_zZShiroNekoKawaiiZz_

_niceladysakura_

_Chocolateoverdose_

_HarunaNiwa073_

_Emmoria_

_Shugocharagirl_

_Tear Droplet_

_aznurbangrl_

_MoonliteShadow101_

_OxxStill DollxxO_

_Mimi-me_

_chris3169512_

_Memorycutie_

_-tOtAlAnImFrEaK-_

_Olympiangirl_

_FallenRaindrops_

_blushes_

_Suzuka Harukaze_

_xSapphirexRosesxFanx_

_kaho14belle_

_lovin'my'music_

_Kar-Kar19_

_xXxHyuuga-MikanxXx_

_natsumikan4eva_

_CherryBlossomGirl_

_kaWaIi TanGeRinE_

Oh my god, twenty-nine reviews?! Thanks a lot for reviewing~!

**-X-**

_-Setsuna_


	10. Chapter 9: Broken Facade

**Author's Note:**  
Sorry for the late update. Here's a long chapter for you to read as an apology. After this chapter, I'm afraid that the updates might be even slower than before because…tomorrow school starts! No~! But I'll try and get the next chapter up on my birthday or so but I can't promise you anything. Oh and there's a poll in my profile asking you what type of ending you prefer to have in this story. Please take the poll 'cause I need to plan out the ending of this story (though this story is far from over). Anyways, enjoy the next chapter!

**-X-**

**Chapter Nine  
**_-Broken Façade-_

**-X-**

'…_to assassinate Hyuuga Natsume.'_

Those four words rang through her head like a broken record. Mikan couldn't even try to contain all her emotions that were bursting to escape. Reo looked kind of amused when the auburn haired girl's expression showed shock, then flicker to fear, then to hate, then finally back to her emotionless façade.

'W-why do you need to assassinate him?' Mikan hoped that her voice wouldn't fail her. The last thing she needed was to reveal any emotions in front of an Anti-Alice agent. Luck was not on her side; her voice wavered a bit and almost got caught in her throat before she was able to finish her sentence.

_Why should I care if he dies?_

Reo's voice brought her out of her thoughts. 'Hyuuga Natsume is becoming quite a nuisance for us. Two nights ago, he managed to steal some of our sacred document and even killed twenty of our agents.'

Mikan looked slightly shocked and impressed.

'He's one the academy's top agents and therefore needs to be disposed of,' Reo added.

'Why do have to kill him, though?' she asked. 'Isn't there something else we can do instead of assassinating him…?' Mikan paused for a second, noticing how desperate her voice had sound.

Reo seemed to have noticed as well, seeing as how his eyes darkened slightly.

'I mean, won't the academy just get suspicious?' she quickly added after seeing his expression.

The singer's eyes narrowed. 'Suspicious of what? The academy finding out your identity? Just to remind you, I'm the one doing this mission and not you,' he stated.

Mikan shifted her eyes away from his.

Reo sighed and stood up from his bed. 'Well, that was originally supposed to be the plan but it seems that Naru-senpai was a bit suspicious of me.'

The auburn haired girl looked at him in confusion. 'What do you mean?' she inquired.

Reo answered her question by holding out his wrist for her to see. Mikan immediately understood what he was talking about. On his wrist was a large bracelet. Although, it looked just like a bracelet, in reality it was actually a control device.

'Thanks to this I won't be able to put Hyuuga to sleep with my Alice.'

Mikan nodded understandingly. Reo's Alice is Voice Pheromone; the ability to control anyone with his voice; that is, anyone expect for her since she's got the Nullification Alice.

'This is why I called you here,' Reo said. 'Since this thing here…' points to the control device on his wrist. '…is Preventing me from using my Alice, you will have to finish my mission for me.'

Mikan winced; she had feared that this was going to happen.

'Assassinate Hyuuga Natsume; that is _your_ mission now.'

**-X-**

Sunlight filtered through the curtains of the bedroom and onto the sleeping figure.

Mikan let out a huge sigh as the sunlight hit her face. She then sat up in thought. She has until tomorrow night to complete her mission. Sometimes she wished that she was never chosen to become a spy for the organization she was working for.

_Not that I have a choice of making my own decisions, _she thought bitterly.

As far as she could remember, all her life she has been doing nothing but following orders from others, namely Kurai and Reo. Mikan sometimes wonders whether she was like this before she had entered the organization. Did she even have any friends?

'_Friends are nothing but a nuisance.'_

Kurai's harsh words rang through her head. _He's right, _she told herself as her fists clenched. _They're nothing but a nuisance; I don't need them._

Flashes of her new friends went through her head and she clutched her head in pain. _Go away! I don't need any friends! GO AWAY!_ The images would not leave her. The faces of her smiling friends would just not disappear, much to Mikan's dismay.

Then, the image of Natsume sprung into her head. Her eyes snapped opened in alarm. _That's right; the sooner I kill him, the sooner will I be able to leave this damn place! Then I'll be free, _she thought.

A knock on her door brought her out of her thoughts. She got up from her bed and check to see who it was, only to find Anna and Nonoko standing there with grins on both their faces.

'What is it?' she asked in a slightly strained voice.

Luckily for her, the 'twins' remained oblivious to her tone.

'I've finished my potions,' Nonoko said. 'And we're going to head toward Central Town for some lunch.'

_Lunch?_ She looked at her clock and realized that it was already noon. _Did I really sleep for that long?_

'We were wondering if you would like to come with us,' Anna added.

Mikan seemed thoughtful for a minute before nodding her head slowly. She figured maybe some fresh air would be able to clear her head.

The two girls smiled. 'Let's go!' they both chorused. After getting changed, Mikan allowed herself to be dragged by them towards the bus.

To their surprise when they got on they discovered Hotaru, Ruka and Natsume on the bus as well. But what surprised Mikan the most was that on Natsume's lap sat a boy about the age of seven with grey hair and stormy-green eyes.

Mikan had to contain her shock from showing when she saw him _smiling_ at the boy. The words Natsume and smiling just do not mix.

'Ah, Hotaru-chan!' Anna said as she spotted the raven haired inventor sitting alone, reading a book.

Anna and Nonoko pulled her towards Hotaru and sat in the empty seats in front of the Ice Queen, leaving Mikan to sit beside the raven haired girl.

'What makes you think you can sit next to me, you idiot,' Hotaru stated, not looking up from her book.

Mikan frowned, disliking her attitude towards her. 'Where else am I supposed to sit, then?' she asked slightly annoyed. The bus was packed, leaving this the only seat available.

'Nogi,' Hotaru said, ignoring her question. Ruka's head snapped up after hearing his name being addressed.

'What?'

'Switch places with her,' the inventor said, gesturing towards the auburn haired girl.

Ruka blinked in confusion. 'Why?' he asked, but flinched when Hotaru slammed her book shut.

'Don't question me,' she said coldly, reaching inside her pocket to pull out a photo. 'Or else…' Ruka instantly paled and did what he was told and sat down obediently.

Mikan raised an eyebrow at this but shrugged and sat next to Natsume, who was now currently asleep. As the bus moved towards its destination, Mikan couldn't help but feel eyes staring at her the whole time. She shifted her gaze towards her right, only to find the little boy on Natsume's lap staring at her curiously.

'What?' she asked flatly, feeling slightly disturbed. Didn't this kid know that staring is rude?

It was a while before he made a reply but when he did it had made Mikan fall over in shock.

'You're ugly.'

'WHAT?!'

Right now, Mikan could careless that her emotionless façade was slipping or if she was creating a scene on the bus. Even Natsume seemed to have woken up because of her outburst. But that didn't matter to her at all. All that matters was putting this rude kid in his place.

'What did you just say?!' she growled at him. Never once in her life has anyone ever called her ugly and had gotten away with it. Child or not, this boy was going to pay and I'm not talking in money.

'Ugly,' the grey haired boy repeated, pointing at her.

Mikan's eye twitched in annoyance. 'Who the hell are you anyway?' she asked annoyed. 'Hyuuga's son?'

'I'll burn you…' came the response from the Black Cat.

'His name's Hijiri Youichi,' Ruka stated, watching the scene unfold. 'He's in the Dangerous Ability Class like Natsume.'

At that statement, her eyes widened slightly. She moved her face in front of Youichi's and studied him closely. _This kid's in the Dangerous Ability Class?_ That explains why he acts so much like Hyuuga.

'Get out of my face, hag,' Youichi stated.

_That's it!_ Her mind finally snapped. 'I'm gonna-!' Anna and Nonoko covered her mouth before she could spew out some nasty words at the boy. Youichi was already contaminated enough thanks to Natsume.

Youichi then released his Alice, sending bad spirits towards the three girls. Anna and Nonoko backed away scared while Mikan looked slightly shocked before activating her Nullification Alice to cancel the spirits.

_So his Alice is Bad Spirits…_

Youichi's eyes widened slightly, wondering why his spirits disappeared. No one has ever been able to do that before.

The bus pulled to a stop and the student got off immediately.

'Let's have lunch at that restaurant,' Anna said pointing towards a medium sized building. Everyone agreed and went in to have their lunch. Most of them just ordered the cheapest dishes except for Hotaru who ordered the most expensive seafood on the menu.

'You're paying for me,' she said to a certain blonde.

Ruka narrowed his eyes. 'Why should I?' he asked, but understood immediately when she pulled out the photo from before.

His shoulders slumped in defeat. 'Fine…'

After having their lunch, they all decided to split up to do their jobs.

'Anna-chan and I are going to go shopping,' Nonoko said, walking off with her pink haired friend.

'I need to stock up on some supplies for my inventions,' Hotaru stated. Then without warning she grabbed onto Ruka's arm. 'You're coming with me.'

'B-but-!' he started but immediately went quiet when she reached into her pocket. 'Okay, I'll go with you!' he nearly shouted. 'Just don't show anyone that picture, got it?'

Hotaru nodded in satisfaction and dragged the blonde away with her, leaving behind Mikan, Youichi and Natsume.

_Does she always do that?_ Mikan wondered, watching the retreating backs of Hotaru and Ruka.

'Hey, ugly,' Youichi said.

Mikan's eye twitched in annoyance. 'What?'

The grey haired boy pointed at a stand. 'Go buy me a box of Howalon,' he ordered.

The auburn haired girl frowned and reminded herself, _He's just a kid so don't strangle him._

'Hn,' she walked up to the Howalon stand and gave the man ten rabbits in exchange for a small box of Howalon.

'Here,' she said, handing him the nicely wrapped up box.

Youichi took the box and walked back towards Natsume who was sitting on a bench.

'Aren't you going to thank me?' she asked annoyed.

Youichi looked at her with his impassive stormy-green eyes. 'Thank you…ugly,' he said and returned back to eating his Howalon.

Mikan growled in her mind and turned to Natsume, who had been quiet throughout their trip to Central Town.

'What exactly did you teach him?'

Natsume shrugged in response. Mikan sighed, realizing that she would not get an answer from him any time soon. So they sat there in silence waiting for Youichi to finish his box of Howalon.

Once the box was empty, the seven year old stood up and threw the box away.

'Onii-chan,' he said in cute voice.

'Hn?' Natsume looked at him.

'I want a balloon,' Youichi said, pointing at a man handing out balloons to kids of his age or younger.

Natsume smiled slightly and grabbed a hold of his and walked up to the man with Mikan following behind silently.

'Here you go,' the man said, handing Youichi a red balloon.

'Thank you,' he said, holding onto the string tightly; his eyes never leaving the floating red balloon.

The man chuckled. 'What a cute kid,' he stated and turned to Mikan and Natsume. 'Is he your son?' he joked.

They both chocked and gave the man a death glare.

He laughed nervously. 'It was just a joke!' he said defensively.

Mikan's glare never faltered. _Why would this brat be my kid anyway? I'm only fourteen and Hyuuga is fifteen. This kid's seven so you assumed that I had him when I was seven years old?!_

'Ah!' Youichi's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

Mikan looked at Youichi only to see a sad expression on his face. She looked up and saw that the red balloon that was clutched tightly in his small hands, floating towards the sky.

She turned her attention back toward Youichi, who was frowning. For some reason, Mikan didn't feel happy when she saw the expression on his face. Without giving it much thought, she rushed after the balloon, determined to get it back. It was difficult seeing as how there were a lot of people on the streets. She had to be careful not to bump into anyone. Mikan smiled slightly when she caught sight of the balloon. With all her strength, she jumped up and grabbed a hold of the string attached to the balloon.

_Got it!_ She thought happily. But once she landed, Mikan felt her foot slip. She realized that she had landed on the edge of the fountain that was situated in the middle of Central Town. She closed her eyes, readied to get wet as she felt her body tumbling forward. But just as soon as her eyes closed, she felt arms wrapping around her waist and pulled her backwards. The auburn haired girl fell backwards but instead of landing on the cold hard ground like she thought she would, she had found herself landing on someone's warm chest.

The person grunted and Mikan immediately opened her eyes to find herself face to face with a certain someone.

'Na-Natsume?' she said shocked. Looking up at her were the crimson coloured eyes of Hyuuga Natsume. He looked slightly annoyed.

'Are you two alright?' she heard the voice of Ruka ask, when he approached with Hotaru. Hotaru didn't waste anytime and started snapping pictures with her camera.

Realizing that their position was causing a scene, Mikan quickly pushed herself off of Natsume and backed away with a slight blush on her face.

'Natsume, you okay?' Ruka asked, lending the raven haired boy a hand.

'Aa,' he replied.

**-X-**

Youichi was shocked even though he didn't show it. He had honestly expected Mikan to just ignore him when he had lost his balloon but it had surprised him when she went chasing after the lost item floating in the air. His lips pressed together in a straight line in thought. He had never thought of her as someone who was ugly. Youichi had only said that to get a reaction from her. At first he wondered if she was just an emotionless girl but he was proven wrong when she let out a huge outburst when he had called her ugly. Youichi had to admit, her reaction was quite funny.

Turning to his right, Youichi wanted to ask Natsume more about this girl when he realized that he was gone.

_Where did he go?_ He wondered looking around the crowd.

Youichi's eyes widened once he found him and Mikan. Their legs were entangled together and the tips of their noses were touching.

The grey haired boy shook his head, thinking that it was just an illusion but realized that it was real.

The two finally separated and even at this distance, Youichi could see a slight blush on Mikan's face. He quickly ran towards them, noticing that Ruka and Hotaru were there as well.

'Onii-chan, are you aright?' he asked Natsume.

Natsume nodded. Youichi focused his eyes onto his face and noticed that Natsume's cheeks were slightly red as well.

_Does nii-chan like ugly?_ He questioned in his mind but noticed how it all made sense. Natsume would never help any out except for Ruka and himself. So why did he suddenly save this girl from falling.

Youichi was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Mikan walking up to him with his balloon in hand.

'Here,' she said, handing it to him.

Youichi took the balloon out of her hands slowly; his eyes never leaving her once.

What he said next had not only surprised Mikan, but Natsume as well.

'Thank you, onee-chan.' Youichi figured that he needed a sister anyway and decided that Mikan was the best candidate for this position.

Mikan's eyes widened slightly before they returned to their normal size.

_I guess he's not that bad, _she thought and smiled slightly.

'Your welcome, You-chan,' she said.

The bus arrived and it was time to head back towards the academy and once again, Mikan had to sit next to Natsume and Youichi, but this time she didn't really mind. Youichi fell asleep on Mikan's lap and she couldn't resist smiling at his cute face.

'You're different,' a voice from beside her said.

Mikan jolted slightly and looked at Natsume who was staring at her. A sudden flashback of their earlier position caused her to blush and look away from his eyes.

'What do mean?' she inquired.

'Youichi has never warmed up to anyone, except me and Ruka before,' he stated, looking at the sleeping boy.

Mikan didn't know what to say so she decided to remain silent throughout the ride.

**-X-**

Her head quickly hit the pillow as she lied down on her bed. Today had been really exhausting for her. Mikan then smiled. But it was also fun.

_You-chan sure is something, _she thought. _And Natsume…I guess he isn't that bad._

It was actually pretty nice of Natsume to catch her like that, but Mikan wondered what had possessed him to do so. After all, they weren't really friends. So why did he do it?

But Mikan knew that she was actually quite grateful towards Natsume.

_I think he's hiding behind a façade like me. Even thought he acts like it, he's actually not cold-hearted at all,_ she thought with a smile but then it began to slide off at the next thought. _Too bad I have to kill him._

Her eyes widened suddenly in realization. Today's entire event had caused her to forget the most important thing on her mind. She has to assassinate Natsume.

_What should I do?_ Even though she was trained to be a cold-hearted killer, Mikan just couldn't bring herself to fulfill this mission.

She turned to her right and her eyes landed on a familiar bottle of black liquid. Mikan immediately sprung up from her bed and reached for the bottle. She watched as the liquid react to the moonlight that filtered through her curtain. The black slowly turned to a different colour.

_Perhaps this is the answer…_

**-X-**

**Author's Note:**  
Phew, I'm finally finished with this chapter. Don't forget to go to my profile to vote on the poll. Twenty more reviews please and again, flames are not accepted. Fell free to take guesses on what that potion does. It will be reveal in the next two or three chapters. It should be pretty obvious in the next chapter about what that potion is for. Thanks for reading~!

**-X-**

**The Pretty List;**

_Vein's Simply Tired_

_Shugocharagirl_

_WordlessDreams_

_FaN-LiFe13_

_Elviol vi Yogyakarta_

_Olympiangirl_

_Suzuka Harukaze_

_BuzzingBumbleBri_

_Shinigami Angel 13_

_Tear Droplet_

_Alwaysbtheir_

_HarunaNiwa073_

_MoonliteShadow101_

_xSapphirexRosesxFanx_

_Chocolateoverdose_

_AznBeauty18_

_iimAdOrKabLe_

_Kar-Kar93_

_kaho14belle_

_aznurbangrl_

_CherryBlossomGirl_

_natsumikan4eva_

_xXxHyuuga-MikanxXx_

_Saikono-san_

_Behindthisgirlshadow_

_lovin'my'music_

_chris3169512_

_FallenRaindrops_

_OxxStill DollxxO_

_Mimi-me_

Wow, that's more than thirty reviews. Thanks a lot for reviewing on the last chapter! Sorry if I spelt some of your names wrong.

**-X-**

_-Setsuna_


	11. Chapter 10: Painful As Death

**Author's Note:**  
Happy Valentines Day! I'm actually not feeling that well but I'm forcing myself to post this chapter up for my readers. I was originally planning on posting this up on February 17th (my birthday) but decided against it. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Please read and review.

**-X-**

**Chapter Ten  
**_-Painful As Death-_

**-X-**

'Mikan-chan!'

The said girl's head snapped up after hearing her name being addressed. She realized that she had dozed off in Narumi class. Mikan couldn't get to sleep last night at all. She had been thinking up with plans on how to avoid killing Natsume. Luckily she remembered the potion. Mikan placed her hand inside her pocket to touch the cool bottle of the liquid. Why she brought it to class with her when she has no use of it at the moment, you may ask. Well, let's just say she had a surprising visit in the morning from a 'friend.'

**-X-**

'_Good morning, Sunshine.' Reo pulled open the curtains of Mikan's bedroom window to let the sunlight pour through the glass. _

_The auburn haired gritted her teeth in annoyance and the sunlight made contact with her face. But what got her more annoyed was that the brown haired man had let himself into her room without her consent. She sat up in bed and glared at the man who seated himself in a chair placed in front of her bed._

'_What do you want?' she asked, rubbing her eyes._

_Reo gave her a coy smile. 'Just wanted to see how the little princess is in the morning,' he said._

_Mikan rolled her eyes, knowing that that was not the reason for his presence. She jumped out of her bed and looked at herself in the mirror. She was still wearing yesterday's uniform. Her uniform now looked creased. But she guessed that this was better than standing in front of a guy dressed in nothing but your silky black and revealing gown._

'_What do you really want, anyway?' she asked as she started smoothing out her uniform. _

'_I have to accompany you on your mission.'_

_Mikan's hand stopped at her skirt. 'What?' she asked slightly shocked._

_Reo sighed, realizing that he would have to explain. 'Assassinating Natsume was originally supposed to be my mission and then I assigned it to you, But…' he paused. _

'_But what?' Mikan asked. _

'_I may have assigned you the mission but Kurai-san doesn't know that, now does he. So technically speaking, this is still _my _mission. And like I said before, Naru-senpai rendered my Alice useless because of this control device. So I can't do this mission, but I still need it to be successful. That's why I need to accompany you to make sure you do the job right,' he explained._

_Mikan remained unmoving, letting her brain process all the information. Her teeth gritted in realization. Reo would just get in the way of all her plans._

'_You don't trust me, do you?' she asked coldly._

_Reo shrugged. 'I don't trust anyone,' was his reply. He got up from his seat and headed towards the door. Then he suddenly stopped and reached into the pocket of his large coat. Reo pulled out an item and threw it towards the auburn haired girl._

_Mikan caught it in her hands and stared at it impassively. It was a black butterfly mask that only covered her eyes and the top bit of her nose. It looked like one of those mask you would wear to a masquerade ball but in reality it is actually Mikan's mask for missions. It covers up half of her face concealing her identity from the enemies._

'_Wear that on the mission tonight. We wouldn't want you blowing our cover if Hyuuga Natsume manages to escape,' Reo stated._

_Mikan just nodded and watched as Reo's eyes scanned through her rooms and stopped on an item on her drawer. Mikan followed his line of vision and her heart dropped. Reo's eyes just land on the bottle of the mysterious potion._

_Reo walked over towards her drawer and Mikan's hands clenched into fists._

'_What's this?' he asked curiously, holding up the bottle._

'_It's a potion we made in science,' Mikan said way too quickly, though her face remained impassive. Mikan was glad that she was taught how to keep her cool in dangerous situations._

_Reo raised an eyebrow slightly and Mikan could tell that he looked unconvinced._

'_Whatever,' he muttered and put the bottle back in its original place. _

_Mikan inwardly let out a sigh of relief._

'_Don't forget; the mission commences at midnight,' was Reo's last words before he walk out the door._

**-X-**

Mikan's eyes hardened. She knew that this mission would be more difficult than she originally thought it would be. Her eyes shifted towards the boy sleeping beside her and fought the urge to sigh. Her hands fingered the potion in her pocket once again.

_I really hope this works,_ she thought.

'Alright class, listen up!' Narumi said, grabbing the attention of everyone in the classroom. 'At six o'clock sharp today Mouri Reo will be performing for us.'

After hearing that, everyone except for Mikan, Natsume, Ruka and Hotaru leaped up in excitement. They had been waiting for this moment to come for a long time. After all, Reo is really famous.

Mikan sighed in annoyance at all the noise. She stood up, grabbing the attention of most of the students. The auburn haired girl ignored this and headed towards the door. She walked out and slammed the door shut, making the students wince.

'She's in a bad mood,' one guy said, stating the obvious.

The others just nodded in agreement.

**-X-**

Hundreds of students started to fill up the seats at the auditorium. It is five forty-five and the students were anxious to find the best seats so they can get a good view of Reo.

Mikan on the other hand didn't even bother to fight for the seats on the front row. Instead, she seated herself on the edge of the top row. At first, the nullifier didn't really wanted to come and see this but she realized that there was nothing else to do. This could give her some time to think about the mission…

'Ah, Mikan-chan!'

Or maybe not…

Mikan turned her head to see Anna, Nonoko, Kokoroyomi and Yuu walking towards her. They sat down on the four empty seats next to her.

'So Mikan-chan, are you excited?' Anna asked.

'Not really,' Mikan stated truthfully.

'Why not?'

The auburn haired girl just shrugged. The lights on the auditorium dimmed and Reo walked onto the stage. His fan immediately grew wild and shouted his name.

'Reo-sama!'

'Reo-sama, I love you!'

'Reo, please marry me!'

The five seated on the top sweat dropped at the scene.

_I don't see what's so great about him,_ Mikan thought, looking down at Reo who gave the audience a fake smile.

The music started and the brown haired man began to sing.

_Well, I guess his singing isn't that bad…_ She thought as she listened to the lyrics of his song.

'Where's Hotaru-chan?' Yuu asked, looking around the auditorium.

'Over there,' Koko pointed at the front row where Hotaru was seated, holding a video camera.

_She must be doing her money making business thing,_ Mikan thought.

The concert went on for a few more minutes before it finally concluded.

'Thanks for coming!' Reo shouted at the crowd of people. He received shrieks and shouts back. He waved and then left the stage.

Mikan sighed. It was finally over. She got up and made her way out of the auditorium. But the voices of Anna and Nonoko stopped her.

'Mikan-chan, would you like to come with us to Central Town to have dinner at a restaurant?' they inquired.

Mikan was about to object but then a low rumbling noise came from her stomach. She looked away with a slight blush but before nodding her head. She hasn't eaten anything all day.

The three hopped on the bus and headed towards Central Town. Yuu said that he was busy so he could come along with them. Kokoroyomi told them that he had to meet up with Kitsuneme and Hotaru stated that she had some business to take care of. No doubt, that she was going after Reo to get in more good shots of him with her trusty camera.

The bus pulled to a stop and Mikan, Anna and Nonoko got off and headed towards the restaurant that they went to have lunch the other day. They got lead towards a table in the corner of the restaurant that was next to the window. The sun was slowly beginning to set.

The three looked through their menus and decided on something cheap but delicious at the same time. While waiting they started up a conversation.

'Hey Nonoko-chan, Mikan-chan, I watched this interesting movie yesterday,' Anna said, capturing their attention.

'What's it about?' Nonoko asked.

'Well, it's about how this girl was threatened to kill her lover against her will by the evil character.'

Mikan's interest piped up after hearing that. It sounded awfully similar to her situation, except for the threatening and lover part.

'What does she do?' the midnight-blue haired girl asked interested.

Anna smiled sadly as she recalled the movie. 'She killed him in the end and he died in her arms. But she did regret her decision. It was so sad…' Her eyes got a bit teary.

'Why did she have to kill him though?' Nonoko asked, touched by the movie as well.

'She just had no choice.'

Mikan remained silent throughout the discussion. Does that mean that she has no choice but to kill Natsume as well?

'What would you do if you were forced to kill someone you're familiar with?' she muttered.

Anna and Nonoko turned their attention towards the auburn haired girl with surprise written on their face.

'Why do you ask, Mikan-chan?' Nonoko inquired.

Mikan shook her head and smiled. 'Never mind, it's nothing.'

The two girls exchanged uncertain glances but shook it off when their food arrived. They slowly began to eat.

The meal was delicious for both Anna and Nonoko, but it had tasted dry and unsatisfying on Mikan tongue. All Mikan could do was sit on her spot and slowly chew the food while her thoughts drifted towards her mission. What should she do? Mikan swallowed.

She had made her decision.

The food all disappeared and it was time to leave seeing as how the skies had turned dark. It was already nine. Just how long did they spend in the restaurant, Mikan wondered.

The bus ride home was silent, same with when they had arrived back at the academy. Most students were already in bed, tired from today's events.

Mikan bid Anna and Nonoko goodnight and headed straight towards her room. She needed to prepare for the mission anyway. Mikan grabbed the key from her pocket and was just about to insert it into the keyhole when all of a sudden, the door creaked open slightly.

The auburn haired girl's eye narrowed slightly. She was positive that she had locked her door.

Mikan pushed opened the door completely and walked in cautiously while looking around the room. Her eyes landed on the bottle of potion and her eyes widened. Quarter of the liquid had disappeared.

She gritted her teeth in anger. Who had taken quarter of the potion? _Well, at least there is still some of it left,_ she thought, closing the door behind her.

Mikan walked to her large closet and pulled out her regular clothes for missions. It was a black turtle neck, sleeveless shirt. She also pulled out a pair of white loose pants that made it easier for her to move around in. Mikan slipped on a pair of high-heeled leather boots that was pure black in colour. She walked over to her mirror and pulled her hair out of their two low ponytails. Instead, she tied them up into a high ponytail and grabbed two black butterfly clips to keep her auburn hair out of her face. Finally, she grabbed the mask Reo gave her and placed it over her eyes.

Black Butterfly is back.

Black Butterfly is Mikan alias, just like how Black Cat is Natsume's. She's called that because Mikan is able to finish up her missions successfully and at the same time being as graceful as a butterfly. Her facial expressions are never revealed during battle while the mask is on her face.

The auburn haired girl picked up the bottle containing the potion. All she had to do was somehow make Natsume drink this and it'll all be over.

It was now ten thirty; just one and a half hours left before her mission would commence. So, she just sat there and waited…

Alas, the clock struck twelve. Mikan got up from her bed that she was lying on and walked towards her door. She turned the doorknob and came face to face with Reo.

'It's time,' he stated.

Mikan nodded and walked towards Natsume room with Reo following behind. In the Middle School, there were only a few Special Star Students, so there are only two levels. Mikan's room was on the second to top level while Natsume's room was on the top, giving him one of the largest balconies in the academy.

They both stopped in front of the raven haired boy's room. Just as Reo was about to turn the doorknob, Mikan's voice stopped him cold.

'You stay out here and wait. You'll only get in my way,' she whispered coldly to the brown haired man.

Reo scowled, but nodded anyways knowing that right now, without his Alice, Mikan was more powerful than himself.

Mikan smiled inwardly at this. Reo won't be able to ruin her plans now. She reached for the doorknob and turned it slowly. Then, she pushed open the door as quietly as possible. Mikan stepped in and closed the door behind her.

The auburn haired girl walked towards Natsume's bed and stared at the figure sleeping on it.

Mikan's eye twitched slightly behind her mask and she could feel heat rising up to her face. Natsume just looked so cute while he slept.

_No!_ Mikan shook her head to rid herself of the thought. _I'm supposed to kill him, not ogle at him while he's asleep!_

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the potion. Mikan twisted open the cap slowly while her eyes remained fixed on Natsume, making sure that he doesn't make any strange movements.

The auburn haired girl then slowly climbed on top of the Black Cat.

_All I need to do now is get him to drink it,_ Mikan thought, as her hand neared his face.

Suddenly, a hand shot up and grabbed a hold of her wrist. Mikan looked down to see a pair of crimson coloured eyes glaring at her.

She froze.

**-X-**

Natsume was no idiot. He had known that someone had snuck into his room from the moment they set foot inside. The raven haired boy figured that he should pretend to be asleep so that he can figure out what they're up to. But his hand had shot up instinctively when he felt the person getting on top of him.

His eyes opened and glared at the figure on top of him.

'Who the hell are you?' he demanded. For some odd reason, this person seems kind of familiar to him.

Mikan gritted her teeth. Natsume was a lot smarter than she thought. This was going to cause her some problems.

'That's none of your business,' she hissed at him, trying to pull her hand away from his tight grip. It was futile.

Suddenly, she felt Natsume's hand grow hotter.

_Is he using his Alice?_ Mikan thought, quickly activating her Nullification Alice to cancel the heat out before her wrist gets burnt.

Natsume looked slightly shocked. Why isn't his Alice working? What did this girl do? He knew that it is definitely a girl because of the tone in her voice.

A sudden movement on the doorknob grabbed both of their attention. Mikan gritted her teeth and glared at the door.

_Reo, that bastard!_ She thought angrily.

Without giving it much thought, Mikan brought the bottle to her lips and drank the black liquid. Then with all her strength, she freed herself from his grip and grabbed roughly onto Natsume's chin.

_What the-!_ Natsume eyes widened when the auburn haired girl connected her lips with his. His lips parted and felt cold yet sweet liquid being transferred into his mouth. The raven haired boy swallowed it unconsciously.

Knowing that Natsume had swallowed the potion, Mikan pulled away from him and rubbed the liquid away from her lips. Quickly grabbing the cap, she screwed it back onto the bottle and pocketed it.

Natsume vision began to get blurry. He didn't know what the mysterious girl had given him but he knew that it wasn't anything good. His mind started to get hazy. The last thing he saw was the regretful face of the girl looking down at him.

Mikan reached down and wiped away the black dripping from the corner of his mouth. The last thing she needed was any evidence left behind.

_I hope the potion works, _she thought.

The door swung open and in came Reo with an impatient expression on his face.

'Are you done?' he asked annoyed that he had to wait outside.

Mikan simply nodded.

Reo raised an eyebrow when he took a look at her face. 'Why are you blushing?' he inquired.

Mikan looked shocked and reached up to touch her cheeks, realizing that it was really warm. Why did she blush?

'Hn,' was her cold response.

Reo looked away and grunted, knowing that she wasn't going to tell him. He walked towards Natsume and touched his neck with his fingers.

No pulse.

Grinning in satisfaction, Reo turned towards the impassive girl. 'I didn't think you would be able to pull if off,' his tone sounded kind of insulting but Mikan ignored him.

'Let's go,' she said, walking out of the door, with Reo following behind with a smirk on his face.

They headed towards the front gate where the black limo was parked. But before they reached their destination, Reo stopped her.

'Wear this,' he said, handing her a hooded cloak. 'We wouldn't want the academy finding out that one of their students escaped now would we?'

Mikan remained silent and draped the cloak over her shoulder and pulled the hood up so that it would conceal her face. The two then continued towards the gate. Reo had stated that he would distract the guard while Mikan makes her way into the car.

Mikan look over at Reo's direction and noticed that he had the guard distracted. She took this chance to get into the backseat of the limo.

After a few more minutes, Reo got in and the gates opened. The driver started up the limo and drove out of the academy.

The drive to headquarters was silent. Mikan swallowed the lump that was rising in her throat. What was this feeling? Regret? Guilt?

The auburn haired girl clenched her hands in front of heart. It was painful.

But it doesn't matter anymore, she told herself. Her fist unclenched.

Because Hyuuga Natsume is officially dead.

_Why is my heart still hurting?_

**-X-**

**Author's Note:**  
Finally! It's done! The chapter I mean, not the story. Do you have any idea on what the potion is now? It should be kind of oblivious now. Twenty more reviews please! This chapter took me eight freaking hours to write! Anyway, hope you like it! Please review!

**-X-**

**The Pretty List:**

_natsumikan4eva_

_CherryBlossomGirl_

_HarunaNiwa073_

_Chocolateoverdose_

_xXxHyuuga-MikanxXx_

_kaho14belle_

_lovin'my'music_

_niceladysakura_

_Taeniaea_

_Shugocharagirl_

_Alwaysbtheir_

_Shinigami Angel 13_

_MoonliteShadow101_

_Olympiangirl_

_Tear Droplet_

_FallenRaindrops_

_xSapphirexRosesxFanx_

_hanistkim_

_FuchsiaQwn_

_Kar-Kar93_

_WordlessDreams_

_chris3169512_

_crimsonMoonlight20_

_Memorycutie_

_Emmoria_

_Mimi-me_

_Azuki-sakura_

_Akazukin-san_

Thanks a lot for reviewing! Happy Valentines Day to you all!

**-X-**

_-Setsuna_


	12. Chapter 11: Her Punishment

**Author's Note:**  
I'm so sorry about not updating for so long. I was so caught up in watching the anime _La Corda D'Oro_. It's so awesome! Tsukimori Len is so awesome –squeal- ! I think there's going to be a second season of the anime. I can't wait! It'll be nice if _Gakuen Alice_ could have a season two as well… Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. I actually had fun writing it. For those who guessed right, congratulations. The potion is a potion that fakes a person's death. I would never kill Natsume off! I'm not that evil…or am I? Hehe…! Anyway, enough talk and onto the chapter! Don't forget to review.

**-X-**

**Chapter Eleven**_  
-Her Punishment-_

**-X-**

Ruka was worried. Natsume was not here in class. The blonde knew that he didn't have any missions today, so why is he not present? Normally this wouldn't be a subject to worry about but during these last few weeks, the raven haired lad hadn't skipped a single class. It might be because he didn't want to get caught by Persona, but Ruka had a strange feeling that it had something to do with the new student.

No, not new, Ruka mused. It has been almost a month since Mikan had joined their class. She was able to make many friends even without trying. The blonde haired lad could tell that there's more to the auburn haired girl than what meets the eye.

Speaking of which, he couldn't see her either.

'Anna-chan,' he called out to the pink haired girl that was walking past him.

Anna turned to him with question shone in her baby blue eyes.

'What is it, Ruka-kun?' she asked confused.

As far as she knew, Ruka was not someone who preferred to socialize with others. The only people she'd seen him talking to before was Natsume, Youichi and Hotaru; for the latter, only on special occasions.

'Have you seen Sakura or Natsume?'

Anna's eyebrow rose. She could understand why he would want to know the whereabouts of Natsume, but Mikan as well?

'No…I haven't,' she said slowly.

The animal lover nodded and went silent. Narumi went in the classroom and began his lesson.

For some odd reason, Ruka had felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach with worry.

He had a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

**-X-**

Natsume groaned as he sat up from his bed. His hand instinctively flew up to his head as a surging pain travelled through his brain. What happened last night? Natsume couldn't really recall anything.

Suddenly, images of the girl from last night flashed in his mind.

_Who was that girl? _He questioned in his mind and he slowly got up from his bed. _Why was she in here? _

His fingers touched his lips gently as he recalled how warm her lips had felt upon his. Natsume licked his lips. They tasted like sweet strawberries.

He staggered towards the bathroom and took a good look at himself in the mirror. Natsume wasn't sure if the person staring right back at him was even himself anymore. His skin was far too pale, almost to the point where he looked like a vampire and there were even slight bags under his eyes.

_Not to mention, the pounding headache,_ he thought annoyed as he clutched his head in pain.

After finishing up in the bathroom, Natsume headed towards the door. He knew that Ruka would be worried about him if he didn't show up in class and he didn't want that.

Locking the door behind him, Natsume headed towards class. Much to his relief, the aching pain in his head slowly started to fade.

No one was in the hallways and he knew that class had already started. Without even knocking, Natsume pushed open the door of the classroom, feeling everyone's gaze drifting towards him. He gave them all a glare and they looked away in panic.

'How good of you to join us, Natsume-kun,' Narumi said, grinning at the raven haired boy.

Natsume muttered something under his breath that couldn't be heard and walked towards his seat.

'Natsume, where were you?' Ruka asked, half worried and half relieved.

Natsume snorted. 'You worry too much,' he muttered, instead of answering his question. But Ruka knows that he would be fine.

As time flew past, it seemed as if Natsume was, for once, interested in Narumi lesson. But Ruka knew his friend better than anyone else. Although his eyes were staring straight at the blonde haired teacher, he could see that Natsume was deep in thought. It might have been the trick of the light, but Ruka thought that he saw Natsume's tongue whip out of his mouth and licked his bottom lip.

His eyes widened when the crimson eyed boy repeated his action once again. Never once has he ever seen him act like this.

What is Natsume thinking?!

Ruka made a note at the back of his mind to ask Kokoroyomi later about Natsume's strange behaviour.

Looking back at the raven haired boy, the blonde's jaw almost fell. Natsume had on his face a _smile?!_

Ruka rubbed his grey-blue eyes in disbelief. When he looked back, Natsume's smile was gone and was replaced with his usual frown.

The animal lover's eye twitched slightly. Something is definitely wrong with either Natsume or himself, most likely the latter because Ruka knows that Natsume would never smile for any reason whatsoever.

So what had possessed him to do so?

He sighed; there was definitely something wrong with him and not Natsume.

**-X-**

Natsume felt annoyed. Ruka was giving him weird looks throughout the entire class. What was wrong with him, he wondered. Perhaps it wasn't a really good idea to attend class today. He cringed slightly when a sudden pain travelled through his head.

_Great, the headache's back...how wonderful,_ his thoughts were dripping with sarcasm.

The bell finally rang for next period, much to his delight. The faster he gets out of here the quicker he'll be away from his annoying classmates, since next class for him is a Dangerous Ability class meeting.

_That also means more missions,_ he thought annoyed.

Natsume positively despised doing missions for the academy.

He got up from his seat, ignoring Ruka and his pounding headache. The raven haired boy gritted his teeth, suddenly feeling really weak on his knees. Before he could take another step, his feet gave out and he went tumbling down towards the floor.

'Natsume!' came Ruka's frantic cry as he ran towards his friend.

But it was too late; his body had already hit the ground and darkness already surrounded him.

**-X-**

'We're here,' Reo stated, as he got out of the limo.

Mikan pulled her hood down and stepped out of the limo slowly, taking in the view of the secret base. In front of her was a huge mountain with a large rushing waterfall. It seems pretty much like a normal place in the middle of the forest but if you look into the waterfall, you would be able to see the entrance of the Anti-Alice Organization's secret base. It seemed like the perfect hiding place because hardly anyone visits this remote area.

'Let's go,' the brown haired man said, walking forward.

Mikan followed behind him silently. Once they were face to face with the waterfall, Reo got out a small remote and pressed a red button. Slowly, the waterfall began to part open to reveal the pathway.

They both walked in through the cave entrance and kept walking until they reached a silver door with a panel on the side. Reo pressed a few buttons on the panel and the door immediately slid open.

Mikan shielded herself from the sudden brightness. When she opened her eyes she could see AAO agents all around the place. But the water fountain in the centre of the room was what caught the auburn haired girl's attention.

_Why do they even have a water fountain inside a cave anyway__?_ She wondered countless of times.

A woman wearing a mask over her eyes walked up to them. From what Mikan could see, the woman had shoulder length auburn hair like hers.

'Kurai-san would like to have a word with you,' she directed the question at Reo.

Although she wasn't talking to her, Mikan could feel the eyes of the woman penetrating through her body.

_Who is she?_ Mikan thought, looking right back the woman, who suddenly turned away.

'He would like to have a word with the girl after as well,' she spoke softly, walking away from the two.

Reo nodded and turned to Mikan, who was staring at the retreating back of the lady. Somehow, the nullifier felt as if she had seen that woman before.

A sudden pain shot through her head, making her stop.

_I'm thinking way too much,_ she muttered in her head.

'Well, you heard Yuka-senpai. Let's go,' Reo said, grabbing her arm and pulled her towards a fleet of stairs.

Mikan glared at him and pulled her arm back roughly, but inwardly she was still thinking about the mysterious woman that has her so worked up a few minutes ago.

_So, her name is Yuka, huh?_ She mused, finding the similarities between their names. Yuka's name means citrus while Mikan's name tangerine. Both are fruit. What a coincidence…

_But why did Reo call her senpai?_

Reo suddenly stopped walking, making Mikan bump into his back.

'Why'd you stop?' she asked annoyed.

'We're here.'

Mikan looked up to see a large oak door in front of them.

It was Kurai's office.

'You wait out here,' he told her and pushed open the doors.

Mikan shrugged and took a sat down on one of the unoccupied seats near by.

She waited…

…and waited…

…and waited.

The auburn haired girl could feel herself growing tired as she tapped her feet with impatiently.

'What's taking them so long?' she asked herself as she stifled a yawn.

Finally after thirty minutes, the door finally swung open and Reo and a scientist came out, both looking tired.

'Go in,' Reo said, walking away from her along with the scientist.

Mikan got up from her seat and walked towards the door cautiously, feeling dread forming at the pits of her stomach. She knew that this was going to turn out ugly.

Walking into the large room, Mikan noticed that the curtains were all pulled and Kurai was sitting on his office chair, sipping slowly on his coffee.

'Close the door,' he stated.

Mikan nodded and did as told. She knew perfectly well that she shouldn't mess with Kurai. The last time she did, it wasn't really good experience. She winced inwardly at the thought.

'Take a seat,' he said, gesturing toward the red couch, situated in the middle of the room.

The auburn haired girl sat down slowly. Kurai took one last sip of his coffee before setting it down on the desk. He opened his eyes and gave Mikan a cold hard stare.

Mikan shivered at that. His sapphire blue eyes seemed so beautiful, but she could see that within those eyes were filled with hate, evil and coldness.

'I heard from Reo that he assigned his mission to you,' it was more of a statement than a question.

But still, Mikan nodded.

His eyes narrowed. 'Might I remind you what the mission was,' he said coldly.

Mikan remained silent.

'Assassinate Hyuuga Natsume, the Black Cat,' he hissed out. 'Did you manage to fulfil that mission?'

The nullifier knew that she was stepping on a landmine but still answered his question.

'Yes, I did. Hyuuga Natsume is already dead,' she lied through her teeth.

Kurai's hand slammed down on his desk hard, making her wince. Although his facial expressions remained calm and emotionless, she could tell from the look in his eyes that he was seething with anger.

'Really, then how do you explain this?!' he nearly shouted, throwing at her a small bottle.

Mikan caught the bottle in her hand and her eyes widened once she looked at the contents.

It was a sample of her potion.

'I-I don't know what this is,' she stuttered out.

For once in her life, Sakura Mikan felt truly afraid.

When she looked up, Kurai was gone. She stood up cautiously, ready to make a run for the door, when all of a sudden someone grabbed onto her wrist and shoved her against the wall.

Mikan hissed in pain with her head connected with the hard wall. She opened her eyes only to find sapphire blue orbs staring back at her, or more like _glaring_ right back at her. She wanted to look away but for some reason couldn't.

'K-Kurai-sama, let me go,' she stuttered, inwardly smacking herself at how pathetic she sounded.

Kurai didn't release her. Instead, he tightened his grip on her wrist and pressed himself against her, trapping her between him and the wall.

The auburn haired girl cringed when pain shot through her left wrist. That's right, that was the hand that Natsume almost burned, she thought bitterly.

'How dare you lie to me,' Kurai's breath fanned lightly against her face as he spoke those words with a slight seductive tone.

Mikan could feel herself shiver slightly. Never once in her life has she ever seen Kurai act like this towards her.

It was frightening.

The black haired man's mouth moved slowly towards her ear. Mikan almost yelped in alarm when he gave her earlobe a small bite.

'K-Kurai-sama?'

'Now, pay the price,' he whispered seductively into her ear.

His lips brushed across her cheek, leaving ghost kisses along the way.

_W-wha-!_ Mikan didn't have time to register what happened next because as soon as those words escaped his mouth, he immediately connected his lips with hers.

Her eyes widened uncontrollably. Kurai was kissing her!

She shut her eyes and tried to shove him away from her body, but his grip on her wrist was just too strong.

She felt his something wet brush against her lips and tightened them immediately, but couldn't prevent the painful gasp from escaping when he bit down on her bottom lip hard.

Mikan's lips parted open and Kurai immediately took this as a chance and shoved his tongue into her mouth.

He tasted like bitter coffee.

Mikan felt tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. Never once has she ever experience something this horrible.

_Natsume…_ She didn't know why his name suddenly came to her mind.

Her body stilled as silent tears start to slide down her face.

Kurai's tongue explored every inch of her mouth and Mikan didn't fight back. She knew that it was useless, even if she tired.

Suddenly, she felt one of his hands loosen and drift downwards and touched her thigh.

That's when she snapped.

Mikan opened her eyes and bit as hard as she could on his tongue, making his hiss in pain and back away from the seething girl.

Mikan gave Kurai a nasty glare as she wiped her lips hastily, trying to get rid of his awful taste. What surprised her was that instead of glaring at her like she thought he would, instead Kurai gave her a smirk and licked his lips.

'That was…fun,' he said; the smirk still attached to his face.

Mikan had it.

She turned around and stormed out of his office with an angry aura radiating off her.

The doors slammed shut, leaving Kurai alone in the room. He licked his lips one last time.

'Hm…strawberries, huh?'

**-X-**

Mikan gritted her teeth angrily as she walked through the hallways of the secret base. She glared at every single person that dared to look her in the eye. How dare he?! That devil!

She wanted to go back there and give him a good black eye right now. But even in her angry state, she knew that she would stand no chance against him.

But still, how dare he do that to her! Even though he was only twenty it was still wrong. Mikan had wanted to share her first kiss with the one she loved, not with a crazy maniac like Kurai!

'_But you already had your first kiss,'_ a voice at the back of her mind reminded her.

She froze in her tracks and touched her lips carefully. Oh, yeah. She already gave away her first kiss…to Hyuuga Natsume.

Strangely enough, she didn't feel so angry anymore after that thought. Why? She may never know the answer. But for now, she needed some sleep.

Mikan walked into her room and collapsed onto the bed. She let out a tired sigh. Tomorrow she would have to face the devil again and she would need to have all the energy she needs if she wants to get her revenge on him.

She pulled the blanket over her head and turned off the light.

Finally, she let sleep overcome her mind.

**-X-**

**Author's Note:**  
Who hates Kurai? Say I! LOL! I actually had fun writing the part where he had forcefully kissed her. But don't worry; this is not a Mikan X Kurai fic. It's purely Natsume X Mikan. But the NatsuMikan moments won't be present in the next chapter, 'cause I want to focus on the plot for a bit and then get back to the mushy stuff. Does this chapter seem a bit short to you? If so, then I'm sorry about that. Hopefully the next one would be longer. Oh and by the way, I changed my penname from _xXSeiren-HimeXx_ to _Eternal Butterfly_. I like the sound of _Eternal Butterfly_ better. That's all for now! Twenty more reviews please and once again no flames. See you in the next chapter!

**-X-**

**The Pretty List:**

_HarunaNiwa073_

_lovin'my'music_

_Tsuki no Akebono_

_niceladysakura_

_Tear Droplet_

_Sweetmint-Ruu_

_Ichigo325_

_FallenRaindrops_

_luvnstuff101_

_Shugocharagirl_

_Chocolateoverdose_

_Saikono-san_

_MoonliteShadow101_

_Xlovely-dovey-originalX_

_hanistkim_

_Kai Hyuuga_

_OxxStill DollxxO_

_Kar-Kar93_

_xSapphirexRosesxFanx_

_xXxHyuuga-MikanxXx_

_Hana-chan_

_CherryBlossomGirl_

_natsumikan4eva_

_Emmoria_

_Still Doll Princess_

_WordlessDreams_

_chris3169512_

_Alwaysbtheir_

_Arianna Marilyn_

_Sparklillian_

OMG! That took forever to type out! Thanks for reviewing! If I missed your name and you reviewed on the last chapter please tell me so I can add your name in.

**-X-**

_-Setsuna_


	13. Chapter 12: Revenge Is Sweet

**Author's Note:**  
I felt really bad about not updating for so long so I decided to write this chapter. The characters are a bit OOC in this chapter mainly because it's just a filler chapter before the main event comes. Hope it comes to your liking. And I apologize for not updating for almost three months. Hope this chapter makes up for it. Oh, and also see if you can guess Kurai's Alice in this chapter. Read and review!

**-X-**

**Chapter Twelve**_  
-Revenge Is Sweet-_

**-X-**

The quiet sound of pencil etching onto a piece of paper was heard in the bedroom. The pencil worked furiously on the white surface as a pair of olive-brown eyes scanned across each word that she wrote. The look of frustration crossed her pale face. She crossed out the sentence that she wrote down and replaced it with another.

Finally, the pencil stopped.

Mikan set the writing equipment down and leaned back on her chair with a loud sigh. Her left hand reached for the piece of paper on the desk. Her eyes looked over the paper tiredly. After four long hours of writing it was finally done.

Ever since Kurai had given her that nasty kiss last night, Mikan's mind had been trying to come up with a great revenge plan.

Here's what she wrote down:

_**Task One: While he's not looking put a large amount of sugar into his coffee (Kurai hates sweets).**_

_**Task Two: Mix his spray with a strong bottle of perfume to make him suffocate.**_

_**Task Three: Steal and burn his clothes while he's in the shower.**_

_**Task Four: Give him a horrible make-over.**_

_**Task Five: Dye his hair pink**_

Mikan smirked evilly. That will teach his to keep his hands and lips to himself. Stuffing the paper and pencil in her pocket, the nullifier then headed towards the door.

Operation: Get revenge on Kurai starts now.

**-X-**

**Task One – Sweet Tooth**

**-X-**

Yukiko was surprised to see Sakura Mikan bursting into the kitchen all of a sudden when she was preparing a cup of coffee for Kurai. She was even more surprised when the auburn haired girl kicked herself and all the other servants out…literally.

Yukiko rubbed her painful behind and got up from the carpeted ground. Her amber coloured eyes shone with confusion. What exactly is Mikan doing in there, making all those unnecessary noises? Clanging sounds could be heard and after that all was quiet.

A few seconds later, Mikan emerged from the kitchen, looking satisfied.

'Sakura-sama, what were you doing in there?' the strawberry-blonde haired servant asked.

Mikan's small smirk slid off her face and she turned towards Yukiko and all the other servants, wearing a cold expression on her face.

'I believe that's none of your business,' she said flatly.

Yukiko bowed her head. 'Please excuse me,' she apologized.

The auburn haired girl sighed. 'It's fine. It's getting late; you better give Kurai-_sama_-_' _she spat out the honorific like it was venom. '-his afternoon coffee.'

The servant nodded. 'Understood,' then proceeded into the kitchen while Mikan walked away.

Yukiko glance around the room. Everything looked perfectly normal. All objects were right where they are. She walked over towards the bench where she left the coffee and narrowed her eyes. What was that on the bench? It was small and white. If she didn't have great eyesight she would have missed it.

Is that sugar?

What is sugar doing here? Kurai never asked for sugar to be put in his coffee and Yukiko knew that fact better than anyone else in headquarters. So why is there sugar here?

Deciding to uncover the case later, the amber eyed servant picked up the cup of coffee delicately and put it gently on a plate, making sure it didn't spill.

Then she proceeded towards Kurai's office. Yukiko knocked twice on the wooden oak and seconds later she heard his voice from inside.

She opened the door and let herself in, not noticing a figure hiding around the corner of the corridor, smirking.

'Kurai-sama, I've brought your coffee,' she stated, placing the cup down on his desk.

The sapphire eyed man nodded and picked up the cup while Yukiko backed away toward the corner of the office. The cup neared his pale lips and he gulped it quickly. Immediately his hand flew to his mouth and he dropped the cup of coffee. All the contents splattered onto the carpet, staining it brown.

Kurai flew into a coughing fit. _What the hell was that?!_

Yukiko was immediately at his side. 'K-Kurai-sama? What's wrong?' she asked frantically. It's not that she cared about him or anything but if he gets hurt then it'll automatically make it her fault since she's the only one here.

Kurai choked and made a painful wheezing sound. His eyes scrunched closed. Yukiko began to panic. What if something happens to him? What should she do?

Her eyes drifted towards the coffee on the floor and her eyes widened. _Could it be…? No!_

'Kurai-sama!' she cried. 'I'll go get the doctor!' Before she was able to stand up, Kurai grabbed onto her wrist tightly. His coughs ceased and he was back to normal, although there was no doubt about the anger that he now held.

'Don't be so nosy,' he spat.

The look on his face was murderous. Yukiko bit back a gulp.

Outside in the hallways, Mikan was inwardly cheering at her success.

_Hell yeah, success!_

**-X-**

**Task Two – Lynx Perfume**

**-X-**

She never thought that his room would be like _this_! Mikan had always imagined Kurai to be a tidy and polite man who keeps his hands to himself, though yesterday proved her last statement wrong. But the scene in front of her right now had proved all of those statements false. Rubbish was scattered all around the floor and the bed wasn't even made properly. Books were scattered all over his desk and a half eaten burger was on his bed.

Mikan cringed at the sight.

Her eyes scanned across the room and landed upon the desired object that she was looking for. Smiling, she stalked over to the object and picked on up. It was Kurai's body spray. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a strong smelling perfume bottle and set it down on the desk, but not before opening it. With some slight difficulty, she opened the spray bottle and gagged at the smell. Lynx…Mikan positively hated the smell of Lynx. The auburn haired girl pinched her nose and poured the liquid contents of her perfume into the Lynx bottle. She twisted the cap back on and began to shake the bottle furiously, mixing together the liquid of both the Lynx and the perfume. Mikan sighed and set the spray perfume down in its original place and quickly back out of the room, but not before closing the windows tightly.

Now, all she had to do is wait until the devil to shows up.

A few minutes later, Kurai appeared looking tired and grouchy. Mikan watched from her hiding place as he stepped into his room. She grinned excitedly when he reached for his spray bottle.

Let the games begin.

'What the hell is this smell?!' he shrieked once he sprayed his Lynx onto himself. The powerful scent travelled up his nose, making him gag. Kurai rushed towards the window, hoping to let some air in, only to find it tightly sealed.

_Noooooooooooo! _

He could take it anymore. The black haired devil rushed out of his room and into the bathroom at the other side of the corridor.

Mikan chuckled. _This is so much fun. Task Three, here I come!_

**-X-**

**Task Three – Things Are Getting Heated Up**

**-X-**

_This is perfect! _Mikan thought gleefully. _With him in the bathroom, I can do task three right now!_

She tip-toed towards the bathroom and pressed her ear against the door. Sounds of running water could be heard. Mikan smirked, that means he's definitely in there, naked. She twisted the doorknob slowly and pushed open the door. There he was…in the shower…behind the curtain…naked and unaware of Mikan's presence.

_This is a lot easier than I thought, _she mused.

Olive-brown orbs scanned across the room and landed on the pile of clothing on the bathroom floor. She gathered it all up into her arms, along with his towel and slipped out of the room, closing the door behind carefully.

There is no way that Kurai would be able to live this down. It's just his luck that his room is all the way on the other side of the hallway. Since Mikan took every piece of clothing, including the towel, there is no way that he'll be able to get out of there without revealing himself stark naked to everyone.

Arriving at her room, Mikan kicked the door open, walked in and slammed it shut. She dropped the pile of Kurai's clothing onto the ground and walked towards her small fireplace. It took a while for the fire to light up but when it did, the auburn haired girl picked up a piece of clothing one at a time and threw it in the fire.

Laughter rose from deep within her throat as she picked up the next piece.

_What the hell?! Teddy-bear boxers?!_

Who would have thought that Kurai was a lover of teddy-bears!

She laughed and chucked the piece of clothing the fireplace, along with the rest. The materials slowly burnt down to ashes and Mikan lied down on the floor, letting the warmth engulf her body.

She waited…

…and waited…

…and waited…

…and waited…

'WHERE THE HELL ARE MY CLOTHES?!'

Task three completed.

**-X-**

**Task Four – It's Time For A Makeover!**

**-X-**

Kurai sighed as he sat lied down on his bed. Today was absolutely horrible! First he discovered sugar in his coffee that almost sent him to a hospital, straight into the emergency room. He did not have a sweet tooth! Second, someone had mixed in perfume with his Lynx spray. He had never experienced such a horrible smell, even worse than old gym socks. And last but not least, his clothes went missing while he was in the shower trying to get rid of the horrible odour courtesy of the Lynx perfume. Kurai was not convinced that his clothes would one day grow legs and run away. Thanks to that, he had everyone's shock-filled eyes on his as he ran through the hallways, naked. Kurai swear that he had used his Alice at least twenty times to shock the onlookers.

He let out a groan as his head hit his pillow. Tomorrow he would have to find the culprit that was causing all this trouble for him. But for now; sleep.

When the clock handle struck midnight, the door to his room opened and in came the mischievous Mikan. In her hands were a make-up bag and a bucket filled with pink dye. She grinned evilly as she spotted the devil fast asleep on his bed. Once in a while, he would let out a few snores here and there.

Cautiously, the auburn haired girl walked over towards Kurai's bedside and unzipped the bag. The grin on her face widened. This guy is going to have the worse make-over ever.

She got out a blood-red coloured lipstick and began applying it onto his lips. She was only done with his bottom lips when all of a sudden he pressed his lips together, smudging them horribly.

Mikan forced the laughter back down her throat and got out purple mascara and started applying it on his eyelids then preceded towards the pink blush, _accidentally _applying a bit too much.

The nullifier back away from Kurai and laughed silently. With the make-over that he had, he looked horribly like a girl.

_I should be a make-up artist,_ she mused.

**-X-**

**Task Five – Pink Passion**

**-X-**

Now, it's time for the final task. Give Kurai-the-devil _pink_ hair. Mikan wanted to squeal like a high-school girl. She's so excited. Kurai is going to pay for what he did to her. Mikan opened the lid on the bucket. She peered inside to see thick pink liquid. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a pair of transparent gloved and slipped them on. The last thing she need was to leave any evidence behind.

She began her final task.

While she was dying his hair, Kurai shifted around uncomfortably. She stopped for a second, afraid that he'll wake up but when he let out a few snore she knew that he was still sound asleep.

Mikan sighed in relief and proceed to finish her _artwork_. After a few minutes, she was done. Of course she could get the back of his hair but it was better than nothing.

Mikan quickly gathered up her things and rushed out the door, but not before giving Kurai one last look. She dashed into her bedroom and leaned against the door.

She couldn't handle it anymore. Peals of evil laughter emitted from the auburn haired girl. Never in her life had she ever had this much fun.

Who would have known that Mikan would go through all that trouble just because Kurai gave her a kiss?

Revenge is so sweet.

That just goes to show you one important thing.

Never mess with Sakura Mikan…unless you wouldn't mind pink hair.

**-X-**

…

'ARGG! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY HAIR?!

Yes, revenge is so sweet.

**-X-**

**Author's Note:**  
So, how was it? I really enjoyed writing this chapter and was kind of rushing to get it posted up so it's not edited. I apologize if you find any grammatical errors. Feel free to point them out to me. Twenty more reviews please and flames are not accepted.

**-X-**

**The Pretty List:**

_HarunaNiwa073_

_WordlessDreams_

_kittycat2312_

_niceladysakura_

_Emmoria_

_Tear Droplet_

_luvnstuff101_

_lovin'my'music_

_Suzuka Harukaze_

_Kisa-bun_

_natsumikan4eva_

_xXxHyuuga-MikanxXx_

_CherryBlossomGirl_

_kaho14belle_

_BuzzingBumbleBri_

_crimson-diamions-823_

_OxxStill DollxxO_

_o0fuYuHAnAsHIrAZuKI0o_

_Sweetmint-Ryu_

_Tearing Rain_

_Shugocharagirl_

_MoonliteShadow101_

_Limabean Kitten_

_mistress tee_

_FallenRaindrops_

_Chocolateoverdose_

_xSapphirexRosesxFanx_

_Hana-chan_

_VkLuVeR_

_chris3169512_

_Kar-Kar93_

_XxiLovecutestuffxX_

_Shiro-Tenshi563_

_-sera-chan011-_

Thank you so much for reviewing!

**-X-**

_-Setsuna_


End file.
